Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Saturday, December 13, 2008

EFi-X USA decides to tempt Apple's lawyers, will start shipping OS X-capable machines

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/efi-x-decides-to-tempt-apples-lawyers-will-start-shipping-os-x/

We've always been intrigued by the EFI-X dongle that fools OS X into running on stock Intel machines, Software Update and all, and now it looks like ~~the company~~ a company called EFi-X USA is taking things one step further -- it's planning on shipping pre-built machines capable of running Apple's OS. The EFi-X Millennium 4 will sport an overclocked 3.8GHz Core 2 Quad, 4GB of RAM, and a GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card in an Antec P180 case, all for $1,899 plus the $199 EFi-X dongle. The idea is to avoid any Psystar-style legal troubles by leaving the purchase and installation of OS X up to the end user, but apparently no one at EFi-X USA has talked to a lawyer or even read our previous posts on the matter, since Apple's lawsuit against Psystar turns as much on contributory and induced copyright infringement as it does on Psystar's direct violation of Apple's OS X EULA. In other words, it's illegal to sell a product expressly designed to allow customers to infringe copyrights -- a principle Napster and Grokster made famous, you'll recall. Plus we're pretty certain there's a DMCA argument in there since the EFi-X dongle circumvents Apple's protections on OS X -- the validity of which Psystar is actually testing in its revised countersuit. We'll see how it goes -- we're seriously worried that these companies are doing far more harm to the OSx86 scene than good.

P.S.- Oh, and honestly, Apple, if you want this entire headache to go away,! all you have to do is produce a reasonably-priced, configurable midrange tower. Think about it.

Update: We've just been pinged by the original EFi-X team, who tell us that EFi-X USA has nothing to do with them, that they have no plans to sell actual machines, and that they strongly disapprove of EFi-X USA. Shades of Psystar's use of netkas's work on OSx86 without permission, we'd say -- shady shady.

[Thanks, Mark]

Filed under: Desktops

EFi-X USA decides to tempt Apple's lawyers, will start shipping OS X-capable machines originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's long awaited touchscreen Walkman finally revealed?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/sonys-long-awaited-touchscreen-walkman-finally-revealed/

Sony's Walkman series of media players has done its best to keep stride, stuffing in new features and design refinements over the years, but touchscreen-dominated players are clearly in vogue, and it looks like the company is finally ready to break down and get touchable. According to the Sony stalkers over at Sony Insider, there will be 16 and 32GB touchscreen Walkman players at CES 2009 this coming January. The literal and figurative centerpiece is to be a 3-inch OLED display (possibly that 3.3-inch panel making the rounds, or something more Sony specific), running a touch interface with many similarities to the current Walkman players. Also slated for inclusion is WiFi, enabling a YouTube app, over the air podcast downloads, built-in access to Amazon's MP3 store and an unspecified web browser. The shots of the player above are obviously mockups, and the real hardware is supposed to have physical music control buttons -- and hopefully hold to some sort of reality-based conception of scale. All this info is exclusive to the Sony Insider ninjas, so we can't vouch for its veracity, but it's an obvious and welcome move from Sony, so we won't look a gift rumor in the mouth.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Sony's long awaited touchscreen Walkman finally revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS rolls out four new VH-series 16:9 LCD monitors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/asus-rolls-out-four-new-vh-series-16-9-lcd-monitors/

It's sometimes easy to forget that ASUS actually makes a whole host of non-Eee branded products, but the company has reminded us of is roots today with four new VH-series LCD monitors, each of which boast the desirable-to-some 16:9 aspect ratio. Those include the 18.5-inch VH192 model, the 21.5-inch VH222 and VH226 models, and the 23.6-inch VH242, the first of which packs a 1366x768 resolution while the latter three all offer full 1080p. All four also boast ASUS' "Smart Contrast Ratio" technology to deliver numbers from 10,000:1 to 20,000:1, and all but the low-end VH192 include an HDMI port, along with built-in speakers and, of course, the usual VGA and DVI ports. The VH226 also distinguishes itself a bit further with a slightly better 2ms response rate and a glossy finish. No word on a price or release date for any of 'em just yet, but we'd expect to start seeing them show up any day now.

Filed under: Displays

ASUS rolls out four new VH-series 16:9 LCD monitors originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barbie P520 cellphone turns up in China

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/barbie-p520-cellphone-turns-up-in-china/

Now, it's entirely possible that this isn't an official Barbie cellphone (or even an actual cellphone) but, if you're looking for something that's more Barbie-ish and, well, less cellphone-like than your usual phone, you may want to consider this new P520 model that recently turned up in China. Apparently, this one includes 2-inch,176 x 220 display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, "up to 2GB of expandable memory" (we're guessing a microSD card slot), built-in Bluetooth, not one but two SIM card slots and, yes, an actual mirror. Sold? Then you can apparently pick one up now for 780 yuan (or $114), although getting one over here will likely take a bit more doing.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Filed under: Cellphones

Barbie P520 cellphone turns up in China originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EFi-X shuts down EFi-X USA, says it doesn't support Mac clones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/efi-x-shuts-down-efi-x-usa-says-it-doesnt-support-mac-clones/

The Mac cloning soap opera just keeps taking crazy twists and turns -- Art Studios Entertainment, makers of the EFi-X dongle, have shut down EFi-X USA's plans to sell "Millennium" machines capable of running OS X just hours after they were announced. ASE CEO Davide Rutigliano sent us a statement saying that EFi-X USA was misinterpreting ASE's EFi-X certification program, that ASE will "NEVER sell machines or condone the sale of machines that compete with any brand," and that he personally ordered the project abandoned. Indeed, a visit to EFi-X USA's page confirms that the machines have been killed, although we're unsure what the terse statement "EFi-X USA LLC fights the clones and the clonemakers" is supposed to mean. All part of another strange chapter in the Hackintosh saga, we suppose. Check ASE's full statement after the break.

Continue reading EFi-X shuts down EFi-X USA, says it doesn't support Mac clones

Filed under: Desktops

EFi-X shuts down EFi-X USA, says it doesn't support Mac clones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple: "the iPhone is a gaming console"

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/apple-the-iphone-is-a-gaming-console/

According to extremely reliable and embarrassingly handsome Engadget sources, at an iPhone event held today, John Geleynse (AKA Director of Technology Evangelism at Apple) made some statements regarding the iPhone platform that should seriously raise a few eyebrows. During an ADC "iPhone Tech Talk" in San Jose, Geleynse apparently waxed excited about the potential for the handheld as a viable threat to the DS (and the PSP by proxy), calling the iPhone a "gaming console" and claiming that "it's not a phone, it's a console experience." Pretty bold talk about a device that has yet to really prove its gaming mettle, but nothing new from the Apple camp as far as we're concerned. Considering these comments alongside those from a recent interview in which Greg Joswiak compared the touch to the DS, it seems clear that the company is making a noticeable effort to push this angle. Adding some fuel to that fire is PR that just went out announcing a series of EA "sneak peek" events at Apple Stores around the US. In their words:

Throughout the month of December Apple Stores in New York, LA, San Francisco and Chicago will host special "EA Games Sneak Peek" events where Electronic Arts will discuss why the iPod touch and iPhone are amazing platforms for mobile gaming...

While there's no question the iPhone and touch have made inroads when it comes to gaming, it still isn't clear that there's going to be anything beyond a casual interest for these devices. Then again, if the Wii's success has proven anything, it's that there's plenty of cash in casual if you can make it appealing enough. And you know how Apple feels about appealing products and money.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds

Apple: "the iPhone is a gaming console" originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia says touch interface and handset leaked in presentation don't point to new product

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/nokia-says-touch-interface-and-handset-leaked-in-presentation-do/

Sure, we try to front as world-weary cynics, but when we pinged our folks at Nokia for a statement on that suspiciously-awesome slide about a previously unseen touchscreen interface and device concept, we were totally hoping for a "oh, our bad, that's a real phone and it's awesome and it's being released in the States tomorrow." Naturally, that was not the case. Here's what Nokia had to say on the matter:

"The story you sent over was from a non-public presentation that discussed some UI enhancements - NOT a new product. The form factor shown was a generic form factor and not meant to showcase a new device / product."

So, yeah. They're not really going to fess up to a lot here, but if we were to read between the lines we'd say these "UI enhancements" are much more likely to get real and official someday than whatever vaguely-hinted-at device was shown off beneath them. Maybe. Reading in further, we'd say it's a little odd that Nokia's demonstrating to investors its "best in class touch" capabilities by using a mockup interface on top of a mockup device, but perhaps that's why we were never so good with "the monies."

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia says touch interface and handset leaked in presentation don't point to new product originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: MiFi pushes 3G past the router limits

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/switched-on-mifi-pushes-3g-past-the-router-limits/

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

In a commercial featuring 30 Rock actress and producer Tina Fey and director Martin Scorsese, the former Saturday Night Live head writer uses her credit card to gain entrance to an airline lounge. The notion of a faceless slice serving as an access pass would also apply to Novatel Wireless's MiFi, the simply named 3G personal hotspot that will support up to five users simultaneously connecting to a 3G network when it is offered through operators next year.

MiFi is not the first product to enable a small group to bridge WiFi products to the wireless WAN. One early entrant, Junxion, was acquired by Novatel Wireless competitor Sierra Wireless. And Cradlepoint has created a battery-powered device sold at Best Buy that, like the Junxion device, relies on a laptop card to create its WAN connection.

That's not true, though, of the MiFi, which integrates an HSPA or EVDO radio along with the battery that can provide over four hours of Internet access to devices such as a PC, iPod touch, Zune, Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. In fact, without apologies to Right Said Fred, the MiFi may be "too sexy for my LAN" -- particularly for a product that can work silently in a backpack as it serves its nodes. A thicker frame could provide all-day access, but perhaps such lengthy sessions will generally take place where there is access to an outlet; the device continues to perform normally if it is drawing juice from a PC's USB port.! But the MiFi is not simply a dumb dispenser of digits.

Continue reading Switched On: MiFi pushes 3G past the router limits

Filed under: Wireless

Switched On: MiFi pushes 3G past the router limits originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change HP's TouchSmart 2 all-in-one PC?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/how-would-you-change-hps-touchsmart-2-all-in-one-pc/

HP's TouchSmart 2 launched without a whole lot of fanfare, but what you get for $1,299 is pretty unique. The IQ504 / IQ506 all-in-one PCs are one of the first to actually encourage full-on touchscreen use in a PC, with HP urging users to touch their way to computational bliss. Of course, with an unorthodox design such as this, there will always be pundits who feel that this or that should have been done somewhat differently, and if that's you, you've found your sounding board. Are you a little let down by the internals? Yearn for more expandability? Is the screen as responsive as it should be? Get heard, won't you?

Filed under: Desktops

How would you change HP's TouchSmart 2 all-in-one PC? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ViBook looses DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter with support for six-screen spanning

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/vibook-looses-displaylink-usb-to-dvi-adapter-with-support-for-si/

DisplayLink USB monitors are starting to trickle out a little more frequently now, but USB graphics cards based on the tech are still somewhat rare -- we've seen a couple, but VillageTronic's ViBook box is the only one that comes with software to span an image across up to six screens at once. That's right, the bundled VT MultiDisplay software will let you create a single giant Windows desktop out of six 1600 x 1200 22-inch displays if you buy enough of the $130 dongles -- Mac users can do the same with four screens. The dongle can be outfitted with a VESA cradle that allows it to hide discreetly behind your monitor, and while we don't know what the upper limit of graphics performance is, we do know that we'd kill for a gigantic 4800 x 2400 workspace. Weekend project, anyone?

[Thanks, Becky]

Filed under: Displays

ViBook looses DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter with support for six-screen spanning originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iriver's 7-inch Framee-L digiframe handles multimedia just fine

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/irivers-7-inch-framee-l-digiframe-handles-multimedia-just-fine/

It's darn tough to pump out a digiframe that's not immediately forgettable these days, but if anybody can do it, iriver can. The subtly beautiful 7-inch Framee-L features a 720 x 480 resolution display, 1GB of inbuilt memory, an SD / MMC card slot, USB port and an alarm feature for waking you in the mornings (or nights, if you roll like that). Furthermore, you'll find a capable multimedia player that can handle photo slideshows, all sorts of audio files and even MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, AVI and Motion JPEG video formats. It'll hit Japan just before Santa takes flight for ¥17,800 ($196).

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

iriver's 7-inch Framee-L digiframe handles multimedia just fine originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

GotReception Maps Cellphone Coverage [Cell Phones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Jz55JTzayx8/gotreception-maps-cellphone-coverage

GotReception is a user driven map of cellphone reception strength. Users can login and submit reviews of the location they are at and the cellphone reception they are recieving there. GotReception then compiles the results of the thousands of user submissiosn into a cloud style map showing the clusters of good reception for the carrier you search for. The sample map in the screenshot above shows coverage for the five major carriers in Detroit. You can look at all of them to get an idea of where they overlap and which have the greatest reach, or par it down to just the carrier you are interested in. For another cellphone coverage tracking service, check out Signal Map.

GotReception? [via GeekSugar]

LimeWire 5 Alpha Adds Private Peer-to-Peer File Sharing, Integrates with Gmail [Early Adopter Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/my-wIMXom4Q/limewire-5-alpha-adds-private-peer+to+peer-file-sharing-integrates-with-gmail

Windows/Mac/Linux: Despite the rising popularity of BitTorrent, for many people there's still just one name in file sharing: LimeWire.

The widely used LimeWire actually does support BitTorrent these days, and yesterday, LimeWire released an alpha version of the new and improved LimeWire 5, adding private file sharing features that will allow user to privately share folders with friends. As Wired is quick to point out, LimeWire 5 still supports the downloading from strangers features that made LimeWire popular, but the new default settings publicly shares only files you downloaded from the public network. You can specifically set permissions for all the rest, including which files you want to share and with whom you'd like to share them. How does it know who your private contacts are? Through your Gmail account, of course!

Actually, as of this writing, LimeWire 5 supports Gmail (along with any other Jabber account) and LiveJournal. Once you log in with your Gmail account, you'll see your friends in your sidebar. According to Wired, LimeWire is looking into importing friends from Facebook and other social sites. You can chat with any of your friends from inside LimeWire 5, tell them to go download and install the alpha, and then it's sharing time.

Once you've found a friend you want to share with, just pick the files you want to share and go nuts (assuming your friend has installed LimeWire 5). Head over to Wired's review for an extremely detailed rundown, or download the alpha and start sharing with your friends. LimeWire 5 Alpha is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It's an alpha release, so you! should expect some bugs, but the homepage claims that the core LimeWire functionality is a-okay.

LimeWire 5 Alpha [via Wired]

Google Chrome Officially Leaves Beta [Featured Windows Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/s8KJHooYAIc/google-chrome-officially-leaves-beta

Windows only: Google's new web browser, Google Chrome, has officially left its beta tag in the dust, graduating to a full-fledged 1.0 release today (just 100 days after the initial release).

Yesterday we told you Google Chrome would be leaving beta soon, but we had no idea it would be this soon. According to the Official Google Blog:

We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux.

Good news all around for folks excited about what Google Chrome has to offer. If you've been waiting to try it out until Chrome dropped the beta tag, check out our power user's guide to Google Chrome. Still a Firefox die-hard but like a few of Chrome's better features? Here's how to enable Chrome's best features in Fireox.

Google Chrome [via Official Google Blog]

8 Machines That Can Assemble Themselves [Self-assembling Machines]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/nouiPEGX0wU/8-machines-that-can-assemble-themselves

Ever find that "some assembly required" doesn't quite encapsulate the enormity of the task? Perhaps one day we will have gadgets that can assemble themselves, like the eight machines illustrated in this OObject list. [OObject]

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