Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, February 09, 2009

Rumored BlackBerry 9300 "Gemini" appears, Bold gulps

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/rumored-blackberry-9300-gemini-appears-bold-gulps/

After BlackBerry types lay eyes on the 8900, the same question immediately gets asked time and time again: "Why would I buy a Bold over this?" Indeed, it's hard to argue that the 8900 isn't the better looking handset, but for now, the Bold gets to lord its fancy-schmancy 3G radio over the 8900's technologically inferior head. That might just be where the rumored 9300 "Gemini" comes into play, though, which -- according to Boy Genius Report -- will feature a larger, higher-res screen than the 8900's already amazing display, a beefy processor, a slightly more "rounded" keyboard, and most importantly, quadband EDGE plus triband HSDPA. There isn't any solid information on a release window for this one yet (we'd doubt that even RIM has an answer for that one at this point), so if you had a Bold in mind, don't feel bad about pulling the trigger -- yet.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Rumored BlackBerry 9300 "Gemini" appears, Bold gulps originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia E75 outed by -- you guessed it -- Expansys

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/nokia-e75-outed-by-you-guessed-it-expansys/

We've been seeing the Nokia E75's face around for so long now that none of this is bound to be shocking. Still, the QWERTY slider's been formally outed by our trusty, leaky friends over at Expansys, confirming all we knew to be true about the device. Yep, it's got a 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 QVGA display, quad-band GSM / EDGE and dual-band HSDPA, WiFi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and A-GPS. The E75 is expected to be on hand at MWC, and we're hearing it'll be available on or around March 13th for somewhere in the neighborhood of $580.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia E75 outed by -- you guessed it -- Expansys originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos to release Android phone / tablet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/archos-to-release-android-phone-tablet/

We're guessing we'll hear more about this at MWC, but TI just let loose a press release crowing about Archos's use of the OMAP3 processor in an upcoming "Internet Media Tablet" that runs on Android and also doubles as a phone. No pictures yet, but the spec sheet makes it sound like a hotrodded Archos 5: five-inch screen, up to a 500GB hard drive, a battery capable of 7 seven hours of video playback, and Flash support, all in a package just 10mm (.39 inches) thick. The underlying OS will be Android, but Archos plans to really beef up the media features -- there's even mention of HD video playback. That sounds seriously sweet -- if Archos ditches the current mushy resistive screen in the 5 for a capacitive unit, this could be a knockout Android device when it launches in the third quarter.

[Via Archos Lounge; thanks, Daphné]

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Archos to release Android phone / tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trident's Triton FSE SSD can handle military stresses

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/tridents-triton-fse-ssd-can-handle-military-stresses/

It's not often that we get the pleasure of speaking about Trident Space & Defense, but said outfit has just unveiled something that has little to do with the galaxy and much to do with your current / future laptop. You see, the company is gearing up to introduce its Triton FSE (Fast / Secure Erase) SSD at the Armed Forced Communications Electronics Association West 2009 conference, and it's designed to be a "direct drop-in replacement for conventional rotating hard disks that often fail in harsh environments with extreme temperatures, shock, vibration, dust, and moisture." Housed in a machined aluminum alloy case, the drive features industrial-grade SLC NAND Flash and will be available in sizes up to 128GB. Aside from brushing off bumps and bruises, it can also "purge your data and sanitize your information with agency defined algorithms allowing for complete media de-classification." If you're looking for Maxwell Smart's approval, we believe you've got it.

Filed under: Storage

Trident's Triton FSE SSD can handle military stresses originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus Eee PC 1000HE review roundup

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/asus-eee-pc-1000he-review-roundup/

Well, kids, it looks like the Asus Eee PC 1000HE has started making the rounds and so far the reviews have been rather favorable. PC Review was so taken by the machine, in fact, that they declared it the "best one yet... dethron[ing] the MSI Wind as the leader of the pack." Their enthusiasm is stoked by the fact that the machine's been designed around its new six-cell battery (making for something less bulky than, say, the 10-inch Aspire One or the NC10-14GB). Also in the win column are the obvious design improvements over its predecessor, and its hard to beat $400 street price. That said, it is a netbook: the new Intel Atom N280 processor offers "no real performance benefits" over the N270, the features are pretty standard for a machine of its class (160GB HDD, three USB ports, a webcam, VGA out, 4-in-1 card reader and the usual ethernet and WiFi connectivity) and testing failed to find "any performance differences between the 1000HE and systems like the Wind, the Aspire One (10-inch), and the HP 2140." Also according to the magazine, the new software-based overclocking feature is no great shakes. Laptop Magazine feels pretty much the same way, loving the new keyboard, the new battery, and the fact the easy-access panel (for HDD and RAM upgrades and the like) is still intact. On the other hand, they point out that the thing's a little heavy (3.2 pounds) -- but what do you expect from a machine that boasts over 7 hours battery life? Notebook Review singles the thing out for its design: "Build quality," it says "is very good with strong, durable plastics used throughout the body," and the new keyboard and gloss black paint "really adds another level of class and style to this netbook." But don't take our word for it -- hit the read links for the full reviews, and be sure to check out the gallery below.

Gallery: ASUS EeePC 1000HE review roundup

Read - PC Review
Read - Laptop Magazine
Read - Notebook Review

Filed under: Laptops

Asus Eee PC 1000HE review roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba makes progress on FeRAM, still no tangible product in sight

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/toshiba-makes-progress-on-feram-still-no-tangible-product-in-si/

Phew. For a ~~moment~~ year or so there we reckoned that amazing FeRAM discovery had been pushed aside and forgotten entirely. Thankfully, Toshiba has picked up the ball and refined the original chainFeRAM architecture by creating a new architecture that prevents cell signal degradation -- which, as you may or may not know, is the usual tradeoff from chip scaling. In essence, this has allowed the company to design the world's highest bandwidth, highest density (128-megabit) non-volatile RAM. Unfortunately, this amazing device -- which should realize read / write speeds of 1.6 gigabytes a second and combine the fast operating characteristics of DRAM with flash memory's ability to retain data while powered off -- is still in prototype form, which probably means we're months (if not years) away from actually seeing a tangible end product hit store shelves.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Filed under: Storage

Toshiba makes progress on FeRAM, still no tangible product in sight originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Explay Colibri pico projector promises 70-inch images at SVGA resolution

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/explay-colibri-pico-projector-promises-70-inch-images-at-svga-re/

Explay has been one of the early proponents of pico projectors, and it looks like the company is not showing any signs of abandoning the form anytime soon, with it now set to officially introduce its new, even smaller Colibri model at Mobile World Congress next week. This one measures a mere 24 x 28.6 x 7mm, and can apparently pump out a 70-inch image at VGA, WVGA or SVGA resolution, all while drawing just 1.5W of power, which Explay says makes it the smallest, most efficient, and highest resolution pico projector on the market today. Unfortunately, the company doesn't seem have anything to say about the project actually finding its way into a phone or other device, though perhaps it's saving a little something for MWC.

Filed under: Displays

Explay Colibri pico projector promises 70-inch images at SVGA resolution originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie intros 8x d2 Blu-ray burner, LaCinema Black MAX media streamer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/lacie-intros-8x-d2-blu-ray-burner-lacinema-black-max-media-stre/

It was May of last year when LaCie last updated its external d2 Blu-ray burner, so it's about time we saw that 4x burn rate double to an entirely more palatable 8x. Available now for consumers in the US, the latest d2 Blu-ray Drive ($449.99) can toast both single- and dual-layer BD-Rs at 8x, and it can connect to one's machine via FireWire or USB 2.0. In related news, the outfit has also introduced a LaCinema Black MAX over in Europe, which acts to serve up all sorts of digital media (photos, video clips, music, etc.) on one's HDTV. You can order it with 500GB / 1TB of inbuilt storage, and the integrated Ethernet jack / WiFi module enables it to pull media (up to 1080p) from other locations on your network. We've nary a clue on pricing / availability for this one, but we'll leave it to those in Europe to hunt it down and brag to us Yanks.

Read - 8x d2 Blu-ray Drive
Read - LaCinema Black MAX [PDF; thanks Predator]

Gallery: LaCie's 8x d2 Blu-ray Drive

Gallery: LaCie's LaCinema Black MAX

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

LaCie intros 8x d2 Blu-ray burner, LaCinema Black MAX media streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of fee! ds.< /p>

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Sunday, February 08, 2009

Beware: UNIX Time to Read 1234567890 On Friday the 13th [Unix Doom]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/UIus39olVEo/beware-unix-time-to-read-1234567890-on-friday-the-13th

Forget the Mayans and their silly 2012 doomsday scenario. The real end of the world will happen because of that most venerable of operating systems: UNIX.

That's because next Friday, UNIX time will read 1234567890. Scary! And, it just so happens that this event will coincide with one of the more superstitious days on our calendar, Friday the 13th. Scarier!

Well-known UNIX and Linux personality John Maddog Hall plans on celebrating the event in style:

While our friends at Bell Labs (er, ah, Lucent....O.K. "Alcatel-Lucent") strive to understand this phenomenon, I will be doing my civic duty by drinking fine beer, and maybe an Islay scotch. This is hard to do while you are holding your breath, but I will suffer through. Who knows, perhaps the U.S. government will give us a "bailout" to study this issue.

To see when this takes place in your time zone, run this little Perl script, which I promise won't end the world before next Friday:

perl -e 'print scalar localtime(1234567890),"\n";'

Shit just got real, folks. Say good-bye to loved ones. Make sure you start with your Windows machines, because UNIX is probably going to take them out first. Part of an agreement with Linux and Linus Torvalds, I've heard. [Linux Pro Magazine via Slashdot]

LG Arena (KM900) pops official, brings along 3D S-Class UI

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/08/lg-arena-km900-pops-official-brings-along-3d-s-class-ui/

Rather than waiting for the KM900 to get lost amongst hundreds of other handsets set to vie for attention at Mobile World Congress, LG has decided it best to go ahead and make its newest touchscreen handset official a few days early. The so-called Arena, which will take the crown as LG's "flagship phone for 2009," is hoping to wow onlookers with its dynamic 3D S-Class user interface. According to Dr. Skott Ahn, president and CEO of LG Mobile: "The direct, intuitive and dynamic S-Class UI will be unlike anything that has appeared on a mobile phone before." We're not quite sure we believe all that just yet, but there's little doubt this bugger will be keen on multimedia. Other specs include integrated Dolby / DivX technology, support for HSDPA 7.2Mbps, WiFi, Assisted GPS and "far more" amenities that should be uncovered in Barcelona. Excited yet?

[Via UnwiredView, thanks Staska]

Filed under: Cellphones

LG Arena (KM900) pops official, brings along 3D S-Class UI originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Special Edition Samsung NC10 gets 6-cell battery, larger touchpad

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/08/special-edition-samsung-nc10-gets-6-cell-battery-larger-touchpa/

Tired of waiting for that NC20, are you? Fret not, as Samsung has apparently hammered out a deal with Amazon to exclusively sell a special edition of the NC10. As we saw with MSI's upgrading of the Wind U100, the nicely refreshed NC10 checks in with most of the same specs -- a 10.2 WSVGA display, 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 160GB HDD, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR -- but it does add a few delectable extras for just $50 over the "other" NC10. Most notable is the 5,900mAh 6-cell high capacity battery, which extends the already respectable battery life to a staggering 9.4 hours. Furthermore, the enlarged touchpad should make mousing around a bit easier, and there's also an anti-reflection gloss coating display that may or may not float your boat. Obviously, there's no word on a ship date just yet, but we'd put our money on "sooner," not "later."

[Via PortableMonkey]

Filed under: Laptops

Special Edition Samsung NC10 gets 6-cell battery, larger touchpad originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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multiple inboxes in gmail (labs feature)

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-in-labs-multiple-inboxes.html

Thursday, February 05, 2009 5:43 PM

Posted by Octavian "Vivi" Costache, Software Engineer

I'm seriously into filters and labels. All the email I get related to Flash goes under my "flash" label, everything about paragliding goes under "flying," and they all skip my inbox because that's how I like to stay organized. But when new email arrives I have to switch to the "flash" label first, then click on "paragliding," etc. I wanted a way to see it all at once.

So when I heard about Gmail Labs, I started implementing a Labs feature in my 20% time that would help me (and you!) spend less time monitoring important messages that may end up getting filtered away. Starting today, you can try Multiple Inboxes, a Labs experiment which makes it possible to have more than one 'inbox' in your default Gmail view.

An image is worth a thousand words, so here's what my inbox looks like:

In addition to a quick view of my important labels, I also like to keep all my starred and draft messages in separate panels.

After you turn on Multiple Inboxes from the Labs tab under Settings, you can configure what you want to see, as well as set the number of messages displayed and the positioning of your panels from the Multiple Inboxes section under Settings.

However you choose to use it, let us know how we can improve the Multiple Inboxes experiment -- all feedback is welcome.

Sony Blatantly Rips Off Improv Everywhere For Crappy 'Viral' Ad [Ripoffs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/svoChItUoa8/sony-blatantly-rips-off-improv-everywhere-for-crappy-viral-ad

You've probably seen Improv Everywhere's amazing Frozen Grand Central video — it's gotten over 15,000,000 YouTube views. Apparently, so has Sony, because they totally ripped it off without asking permission or giving credit. Weasels.

In this spot, a bunch of easily-entertained commuters talk about how awesome it is to see models pretending to be mannequins holding Sony products in the middle of Grand Central. You see the models standing perfectly still, and then they show a fast-motion shot of the models in the middle of the hubbub. It's exactly like the Improv Everywhere video, just without any soul.

And this isn't the first time Sony has ripped off an artist for their advertisements. They ripped off LA-based kozyndan for their Bunnies Bravia ad, denying it later despite clear evidence of sleaziness. They apparently didn't learn their lesson, because this one is even worse. You suck, Sony. Come up with your own ideas.

Time for a mea culpa. Seriously, we're waiting. [Improv Everywhere and Creativity Online, Thanks, Zach Linder!]

Intel Shipping Atom N280 Processors, Bringing HD Quality to Netbooks [NetBooks]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6DgVXzIwXLM/intel-shipping-atom-n280-processors-bringing-hd-quality-to-netbooks

Intel is now shipping their new 1.66GHz Atom N280 processors to PC makers—a chip should give netbooks a performance boost with HD video.

The 1.66GHz N280 is only a 0.06GHz jump over its N270 processor, but the 667MHz front-side bus and the pairing of the GN40 chipset with its hardware-based 720p HD video decoder is really where its at. That will lead to better HD viewing with less power consumption.

However, Nvidia is still looming looming on the horizon with their Atom-ion plaform and its full on 1080p capability. If you simply can't wait for that to go down, the Eee PC 1000HE will be the first netbook to ship with the N280/GN40 combo and is now available for pre-order. [PC World via Wired Gadget Lab]

Hands-On With JaJah's iPod touch VoIP App [VoIP]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/wtUTrjKN5x0/hands+on-with-jajahs-ipod-touch-voip-app

Jajah isn't the first VoIP app for the iPhone/iPod touch, but it's the first that let's you send/receive SMS messages over wi-fi. I got a brief look at it, and so far, so good.

Previously, the JaJah app for the iPhone was used as a middleman to connect people on VoIP to your cellphone, but it still required a mobile plan, and used minutes. Now, the Jajah app works entirely over wi-fi, meaning you can use the iPod touch, and make calls without a mobile plan. It also works on the iPhone, but won't work over 3G or EDGE, because then AT&T wouldn't make any money.

The strength of this Jajah app is simplicity, and that is a good thing. It doesn't try to work with a million different communication services (such as Fring or IM+), and it maintains much of Mobile OS X's design DNA. This makes the app extremely easy to use.

Placing a call is as simple as selecting a contact from your list, or bringing up the dialpad and entering a number. Similarly, sending a text over IP (handy for international SMS) looks like it's pretty much the same as sending a normal SMS, except that you're inside the JaJah app. I got to see the UI for sending an SMS, but because the service isn't set up yet, I didnt get to see it go through.

As for call quality, voices sounds a tad on the tinny side, but not to the extent that I would say it's bad quality. There's also a few seconds of lag while the data passes through JaJah's servers, yet that's no huge surprise either.

The cool thing is that JaJah would like to work with Mobile Carriers on branded solutions, and expect carriers to offer flat rate VoIP service using ! the JaJa h technology. This means you wouldn't need to buy minutes, you'd just pay one dollar amount every month for unlimited use. In any case, VoIP junkies should look at JaJah when it comes out in a few weeks.

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