Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Friday, February 20, 2009

Haier shows off mysterious "NetBooks," Android phones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/haier-shows-off-mysterious-netbooks-android-phones/

Haier's offerings are always an adventure, and this year at MWC they didn't disappoint. They were showing off an interesting assortment of MIDs, confusingly dubbed "NetBooks," including a mini-laptop of sorts (left) that falls somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, we're totally short on specs, release dates or other sorts of relevant informations, so what you see is pretty much what you get. On a similar note, Haier had two Android-based devices at the show, dubbed the G1 and the G2, along with a BlackBerry 8900 look-alike we didn't see, and another phone that even the PR person wasn't sure what it was. These two "Googlephones" (their word) were sadly out of battery when we went for a demo, but one of them bore more than a passing resemblance to the BlackBerry Storm, though it happens to be lighter, smaller and runs a new OS... maybe RIM can call up Haier for some pointers.

Gallery: Haier shows off mysterious "NetBooks," Android phones

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Laptops

Haier shows off mysterious "NetBooks," Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon's latest batch of cameras get the hands-on treatment

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/canons-latest-batch-of-cameras-get-the-hands-on-treatment/

Canon certainly isn't cutting any corners with its pre-PMA batch of digital cameras, and the folks at PhotographyBlog look to be doing their best to keep up with them all, with them now churning out some hands-on looks with just about all of 'em, plus a couple of Canon's new lenses for good measure. Those include the SX200 IS pictured above, which they describe as "bigger and chunkier" than its rival Panasonic DMC-TZ7, as well as the "sleek and sophisticated" A2100 IS, the "toy-camera-like" D10, and a number of other compact shooters that stay a bit closer to their predecessors in terms of appearance. Of particular note to more serious photographers, Canon was also showing off its new TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II lens, which is replacing the 17-year-old original model, and its new TS-E 17mm f/4L lens, which is apparently the world's shortest focal length Tilt-Shift lens with full-frame 35mm coverage. Hit up the link below to check out the whole lot, just be prepared to do a bit of digging.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Canon's latest batch of cameras get the hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mac mini refresh allegedly caught on camera

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/mac-mini-refresh-allegedly-caught-on-camera/

Well, what do we have here? According to MacRumors, this could quite possibly be the next-gen Mac mini we've been waiting so patiently for. This guy would seem to correspond roughly to other possible "leaks" we've been hipped to in the past, including the presence of five USB ports, FireWire 800, Mini DisplayPort, and Mini DVI. Coincidence? Underhanded Photoshoppery? You be the judge.

Update: Looks like the pic hit both MacRumors and AppleInsider at the same time, but the MR forum poster who put it up included some alleged specs: a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB Level 2 cache, 2GB DDR 3 memory at 1066MHz and a ATA Super Drive. Believe what you will!

[Thanks, iB3nji]

Filed under: Desktops

Mac mini refresh allegedly caught on camera originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change 3M's MPro110 pocket projector?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/how-would-you-change-3ms-mpro110-pocket-projector/

The pico projector market has practically exploded over the past six months or so, but all the while it was 3M's MPro110 leading the charge. Given that you've now had a few months to toy with it, we're wondering if this thing really has lived up to the hype. Is having a projector in your pocket as awesome as advertised? Is the image quality sufficient for impromptu wall splashings? Would you recommend holding off for round two? We have all ideas we'll hear tons of "make it brighter!" and "where's the 1080p version?" type comments, but if you have something else besides that to add, then -- by all means -- drop some knowledge on us in comments below.

Filed under: Displays, Portable Video

How would you change 3M's MPro110 pocket projector? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS begins shipping ultra-longevous Eee PC 1000HE

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/asus-begins-shipping-ultra-longevous-eee-pc-1000he/

ASUS' Eee PC 1000HE, which managed to garner some pretty high praise amongst reviewers, is now shipping out to eager buyers. For those that missed it, this here netbook sports a 1.66GHz Atom N280 and a high-capacity battery that could last up to 9.5 hours under perfectly ideal conditions. And for under $400, how in the world can you complain with that? If you too have received your tracking number, feel free to gloat about it in comments below. Might want to hold the actual digits close to your chest, though -- we hear netbook interceptions are on the rise.

[Thanks, Mitchell]

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS begins shipping ultra-longevous Eee PC 1000HE originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lenovo planning to use Ion for larger netbooks?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/lenovo-planning-to-use-ion-for-larger-netbooks/

Who knows what dark, unreliable alleys the Commercial Times prowled to get this information, but the Chinese newspaper says that Lenovo is planning on shipping 11.6-inch and 12.1-inch NVIDIA Ion-based "netbooks" sometime in the future. Given the currently strained relationship between NVIDIA and Intel, it'll be interesting to see if Intel comes through on its promise to sell Atom chips separately or if that was just the empty PR speak. We'll see how this plays out -- right now all we've heard is that Ion will launch on the desktop, so we wouldn't hold your breath.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo planning to use Ion for larger netbooks? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BenQ puts its all-in-one where its mouth is, announces nScreen i91

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/benq-puts-its-all-in-one-where-its-mouth-is-announces-nscreen-i/

BenQ puts its all-in-one where its mouth is, announces nScreen i91

Remember when we told you BenQ was hot and bothered for all-in-one computers? That pronouncement wasn't just the soulful yearnings of a lustful suitor; the company has followed through, revealing the i91, first in its nScreen line of (nearly) fully integrated machines. It's an 18.5-inch, 16:9 LCD boasting an AMD Semperon 210U processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive, and some other niceties like a 4-in-1 card reader, integrated webcam, and an average power consumption of just 30 watts. The machine is designed to be incredibly simple to use, like a television, advertising that users can just plug it in, press in the big volume/power knob, and then surf away -- assuming they know to connect the keyboard and mouse first. Sure, it's not half as attractive as Lenovo's A600, but at $517 it is about the cost. No word on US availability, but can be found on store shelves in Taiwan now, with a 21-inch model, the i221, coming soon.

[Via Tech Ticker]

Continue reading BenQ puts its all-in-one where its mouth is, announces nScreen i91

Filed under: Desktops

BenQ puts its all-in-one where its mouth is, announces nScreen i91 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ricoh's CX1 point and shoot combines two shots for greater dynamic range, glory

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/ricohs-cx1-point-and-shoot-combines-two-shots-for-greater-dynam/

Ricoh's CX1 point and shoot combines two for greater dynamic range, glory

While high dynamic range is only recently getting some attention in the gaming and display worlds, for decades it's been a tool of serious photographers wanting eye-popping exposures. Now Ricoh's gone and offered it to the masses with its latest consumer digi cam, the CX1, creating a "dynamic range double shot" mode that takes two images nearly simultaneously with different exposures, then combines them automatically to present the best bits of both. It features a 9 megapixel CMOS sensor fronted by a 7.1x (28-200mm) lens and backed by a 3-inch LCD. VGA videos are a bit disappointing these days, but 120 frames per second can be captured at that resolution, which is good news for slow-mo junkies. UK release is mid-March for £299, about $430, and we expect/hope it'll be lighting up dim photos Stateside around the same time.

Gallery: Ricoh CX1

[Via PhotographyBLOG]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Ricoh's CX1 point and shoot combines two shots for greater dynamic range, glory originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's TL320: the mystery digital camera with analog gauges

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/samsungs-tl320-the-mystery-digital-camera-with-analog-gauges/

Samsung's TL320: the mystery digital camera with analog gauges

We've seen some interesting looking shooters from Samsung before, but nothing quite like this latest charmer, a 12 megapixel mystery model that's just appeared on Amazon's site. It features a 5x stabilized zoom lens on the front, which is nice and all, but the real bits of intrigue are elsewhere. Beaming back at ya will be a 3-inch OLED screen, a rarity for a digi cam, but it's also got a pair of those analog gauges we loved on the NV9 on top that show battery life and remaining storage. Sadly, other than Amazon saying it'll sell for a penny under $330 we don't know a thing about it's availability, but we'll be keeping an eye out for it and its dashing red arrows.

Gallery: Samsung TL320

[Via OLED- Info]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung's TL320: the mystery digital camera with analog gauges originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stantum's mind-blowing multitouch interface on video!

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/stantums-mind-blowing-multitouch-interface-on-video/

We just got a look at some amazing touchscreen interaction, running on a humble resistive touchscreen with some OMAP hardware backing it up. Stantum's technology is a software-based refinement to resistive touchscreens that allows for accuracy beyond the pixel density of the display, a complete lack of touchscreen "jitters" and some fairly incredible input methods. Termed "TouchPark," the multitouch framework provides gesture recognition, cursor management and physics processing for phone builders to stick on top of the phone OS (Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android are currently supported), and works with hardware such as Texas Instruments Zoom, Freescale i.MX and ST Nomadic. The PMatrix multitouch firmware allows for unlimited inputs, detection of any contacting object (a finger, a stylus or even a paintbrush) and pressure sensitivity. We played with the demo unit for a bit and were frankly blown away, it's far and away the best touch experience we've ever seen or felt, and the multitouch functionality is just gravy on top. Stantum is targeting resistive touchscreens because they're still considerably cheaper to build than capacitive ones, and from our perspective there seems to be zero tradeoff -- for sensitivity and accuracy this destroys everything else we've seen on the market, capacitive or not. Sadly, there's no word on when this will make it into real, shipping handsets, but we'll certainly be tracking its progress obsessively. Video is after the break.

Gallery: Stantum's mind-blowing multitouch interface on video!

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Continue reading Stantum's mind-blowing multitouch interface on video!

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Handhelds

Stantum's mind-blowing multitouch interface on video! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD nets final approval to create The Foundry Company

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/amd-nets-final-approval-to-create-the-foundry-company/

After having to delay the final vote earlier this month due to a lack of participation (d'oh!), AMD has dotted the final 'i' in its attempt to spin off semiconductor manufacturing. Said company, along with the Advanced Technology Investment Company, have now secured the final approval necessary to create The Foundry Company. Stockholder approval was the only remaining hurdle to be jumped, and the joint venture transaction is expected to fully close by March 2nd of this year. By the numbers, AMD stockholders approved a proposal to issue 58 million shares of its common stock along with warrants to purchase 35 million shares of its common stock and 35 million shares of the company's common stock upon exercise of those warrants to an affiliate of the Mubadala Development Company PJSC (perplexing, we know). Now, let's see if AMD can keep up with Intel's own $7 billion investment.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

AMD nets final approval to create The Foundry Company originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Mobile Hits Windows Mobile [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com:80/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/-FDLCqyjnGI/google-mobile-hits-windows-mobile

Windows Mobile only: Google Mobile for the likes of the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry have been around for a while. Now the autocompleting, quick search application is also available for your Windows Mobile phone.

While the WinMo version of Google Mobile isn't quite as saucy as the iPhone or Android versions—which support search-by-voice features—but the app is still a winner for quick and easy searches from your phone. Hit the link below for a closer look at the Windows Mobile page, or go to the main Google Mobile page to check in on the availability of Google Mobile for your phone.

Google Mobile App for Windows Mobile [Google via Official Google Mobile Blog]

iPodME Converts Your Video to iPod Friendly Format [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com:80/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/DtRG_deHFpY/ipodme-converts-your-video-to-ipod-friendly-format

Windows only: If you're looking for a fire-and-forget video converter to help stock your iPod, iPodME is a dead simple and lightweight tool for bulk converting your video files.

iPodME is a completely portable standalone application—a GUI wrapper of the venerable ffmpeg for the curious among you. Operation is as simple as running the application, dragging and dropping a list of video files you want to convert onto it, and adjusting the basic video settings. You can select the video dimensions and the quality using the plain English metric provided--slow, quality or turbo, size for instance—to determine the conversion speed. If you dig into the options menu you can also tweak the process priority. The default for the application is to take advantage of idle cycles and back off when you're actually attempting to do work. Using the fast, quality setting and leaving it on the default of idle, it took approximately one hour to convert 20 episodes of Fraggle Rock into iPod-compatible MP4 files. An unexpected bonus in such a small package is support for SRT subtitle files, if you have them for your favorite foreign media you can embed them as you convert. If you'd like more fine tuned control over your video conversions, check out the candidates in the Hive Five Best Media Converters and the Top 10 Free Video Rippers, Encoders, and Converters to fulfill your tweaking needs.

iPodME [via Freeware Genius]

How Can I Download Every Attachment From Gmail? [Ask Lifehacker]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com:80/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/C1ZkuOwiS28/how-can-i-download-every-attachment-from-gmail

Dear Lifehacker,
Over the years, I've accumulated lots of images/files in attachments throughout my email. What I'm looking for is a way to download ALL Gmail attachments in one fell swoop.

Sincerely,
Gmail is Great

Dear Gmail is Great,
There may be several ways you can accomplish this, here's how we'd do it: You can easily download every attachment in one fell swoop using a combination of Gmail's IMAP capability, Mozilla Thunderbird, and the AttachmentExtractor extension for Thunderbird. We'll take you through the steps, which might take a little while but will end up with a local folder full of attachments.

Use our guide to turning Thunderbird into the Ultimate Gmail IMAP client to setup local access to all of your email. Make sure to fully sync all folders, including your All Mail folder.
Install the AttachmentExtractor extension by going to Tools \ Addons and dragging in the downloaded file.
Sort the All Mail folder by the attachment icon, and then select all the email that has attachments. Right-click and choose "Extract Selected Attachments to..." from the menu, and pick a folder to save your attachments.
Wait, for probably a very long while, for all the attachments to download.
All done!

This technique should work for any email account that works in Thunderbird, so you aren't limited to Gmail. For an alternate wa! y to acc ess your Gmail attachments, check out Adam's guide to advanced file and attachment management in Gmail.

Love and Geekery,
Lifehacker

GigaPan Epic Review (Verdict: A Cruel Yet Fantastic Tease) [Review]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eRHOXiCn124/gigapan-epic-review-verdict-a-cruel-yet-fantastic-tease

The gadget: The GigaPan Epic, the famous mechanism behind the 1,474 megapixel ubershot of the Presidential Inauguration that allows a standard digital camera to take massive landscapes.

The price: $380, plus your point and shoot digital camera of choice.

The verdict: The Epic really is an interesting product, but it's lacking the polish and execution that most of us expect in a $400 gadget. Let me explain.
The Epic is essentially a robotic arm that automates the process of large scale digital photography. Attaching to a tripod (or just sitting on a solid surface), you show the system the top left and bottom right corners of a landscape, and it will automatically tilt and pan your camera, snapping all necessary shots with a tiny arm that pushes down your shutter button.
You download the 100s of pictures from your digital camera to proprietary GigaPan software, and it will, over a few hours, stitch the photos together into magnificent landscapes.
And it works! With a few caveats.

You'll need to lock your camera's zoom, focus and exposure down, lest various pictures be lighter or darker than others. This can be easier said than done on the dummy point and shoot cam! eras tha t the Epic is designed for. And taking a large panorama is still a process that will take several minutes to complete, meaning that there's a good chance pedestrian will stop and stare into the lens in any public atmosphere you choose to photograph. Also, GigaPan's software essentially requires you to upload images to the web, then grab stills through that interface. A simple mega TIF output would have been a welcome option. UPDATE: Apparently I missed the export screen.

Still, check out the shot I was able to capture outside the Hancock building in Chicago, despite not locking down the f-stop. (Check it out for yourself here.)

Neat, right? You create a photo that can be zoomed in to the full potential of your lens while still maintaining a vast master shot.

Here's the real issue: Manual overrides are reasonable for the average Gizmodo reader. What's tougher is that the battery life is atrocious. The Epic runs off of 6 AA batteries that, for me, took about 200 shots (or two panoramas) before dying. (GigaPan has assured me that premium batteries can take 1,000 pictures at room temperature.) Believe it or not, 200 shots is a limiting proposition, especially for the average guy who would be interested in this unit. I actually ran out of battery during my example shot—a whole column of photos is missing. Why would a company design such a functional product with such an obvious Achilles' heel?

I can't deny that the GigaPan Epic is absurdly cool. And I can't wait for a sunny day when I can explore the city and grab some stunning, massive images through my dinky consumer camera. But I really don't want to find myself perched precariously on a ledge with the perfect shot, only to see the unit die with 60 pictures left to go.

Then again, give me a heftier battery option and maybe some SLR compatibility, and it's on.

GigaPan Epic In Brief:

My mom could use it, pending a brief tutorial

Works with simple consumer cameras

Facilitates truly amazing shots, even when you screw up a bit

An SLR-compatible model would be welcomed

Battery life severely cripples functionality

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