Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Sony Ericsson Idou Smartphone Appears With Whopping 12 Megapixel Camera [Idou]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/J9B30kcS-Cw/sony-ericsson-idou-smartphone-appears-with-whopping-12-megapixel-camera

Set to debut in Europe this October, the Sony Ericsson Idou is a full-touchscreen smartphone with a 3.5-inch display and GPS.

The first model in a new series of entertainment phones from Sony Ericsson, the Idou is being marketed as a device capable of providing "unlimited entertainment." On the bill are music, video, photo, games, social network functionality.

Aside from the sweet camera offering, however, most of the other features seem pretty run of the mill. Sony Ericsson will have to pull up their britches and get working, because it all sounds like stuff we've seen before. No word yet on a stateside appearance. [Mobil via Slashgear]



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Attack of the Card Skimmers: It's Happening Right Here, Right Now [Card Skimmers]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/11xL8pQnJyQ/attack-of-the-card-skimmers-its-happening-right-here-right-now

Previously on C.S.I... a man found an actual card skimmer in the wild, in the flesh. Today, Gizmodo reader Sean became the card skimmer/PIN camera's latest almost-victim. Where? Chase Bank in Manhattan, East Village.

Sean Seibel was inside a local Chase bank where he inserted his ATM card into one of two side-by-side automatic teller machines. When the machine told him it could not read his card, it took him a bit of jiggling to get his card back. He tried it a couple more times and got the same results. Before trying the other machine, he inspected the slot of the current ATM he was using and realized that it had a false plastic cover attached to the slot. The amazing thing about the cover was that the translucent green plastic matched the card reader slot perfectly, meaning that it was made specifically for Chase ATMs. After snapping a few photos with his iPhone, he alerted the branch manager and explained what happened.

As he was leaving, Seibel remembered reading about card skimmers having small cameras in the proximity in order to read PIN pad activity, so naturally, he went back to the ATM to inspect, which is where he found an extra mirror attached to the vandalized machine that the other ATMs didn't have. Drilled into the mirror was a tiny pinhole with a camera inside, directed at the PIN pad. Seibel alerted the branch manager again and asked Chase why they hadn't inspected the ATM after he had warned them the first time. Chase honestly replied that they hadn't thought of it because they had never encountered that sort of thing be! fore.

From the crazy amounts of feedback we received last night after we posted the first story, it seems that card skimmers are a common crime everywhere from Thailand to Mexico. But actually hearing about it happening to our very own readers here in America makes us want to help get the word out. Seibel says it best: "Take this as a warning and please inspect every ATM machine you use, no matter how secure you think the environment is." [Thanks Sean!]



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Toshiba matches prices, ship dates to LED backlit REGZA LCDs in Japan

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/toshiba-matches-prices-ship-dates-to-led-backlit-regza-lcds-in/


Toshiba is back and ready to make good on some of the higher end HDTVs promised at CES, after showing off the energy efficient C8000 REGZA LCDs, it's time for the 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio local dimming LED backlit ZX8000 (labeled SV670 in the U.S.) series. These also pack the latest edition of Super Resolution+ upconverting, ClearScan 240Hz motion and fifth generation Pixel Pure image processing. We've heard those picture quality claims and seen the (sometimes controversial) results before, but a few features anyone can appreciate are InstaPort HDMI for lagless switching between inputs and AutoView calibration for room lighting conditions. Add-on hard disk drives are also available, and the ZX8000 models are expected in late June / early July for 46- and 55-inch models topping out around 600,000 ($5,944.) Willing to live without LED backlighting, 240Hz or other bullet points? The ZH8000, Z8000 and H8000 models are ready and waiting for appropriately lower prices.

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Toshiba matches prices, ship dates to LED backlit REGZA LCDs in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: 23 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295s packed into one system, "overkill" exemplified

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/video-23-nvidia-geforce-gtx-295s-packed-into-one-system-over/


Ha, and you thought paying hundreds of dollars for a NIC was insane. For one reason or another (likely "another"), YouTube user ByGamerForGamer has loaded in 23 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 graphics cards into a single server rig, and while only 17 were installed at the time of this video (he's waiting for a few nuts and bolts before installing the others), we're already amazed. Call us crazy, but something such is this definitely isn't what NVIDIA had in mind when it revived SLI. Per usual, the vid's past the break.

[Thanks, P]

Update: Turns out this is a GPU Folding Farm at Stanford. Impressive.

Continue reading Video: 23 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295s packed into one system, "overkill" exemplified

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Video: 23 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295s packed into one system, "overkill" exemplified originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AU Mobile's iida pico projector for G9 handsets unveiled to a chorus of cheers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/au-mobiles-iida-pico-projector-for-g9-handsets-unveiled-to-a-ch/


Unless you're in the thick of it here in the Engadget organization, you can't possibly realize how many desperate (and sometimes, just plain odd) emails we get in the average day. The high weirdness can, at times, become staggering -- dire warnings of robot apocalypse come to mind -- but we do take our responsibility as media darlings and role models very seriously. Case in point: many of you have been asking, "what's up with that iida pico projector for the G9 phone?" Well, we dug up some more details for you, and if you're anywhere near Japan you just might want to check this bad boy out. The device boasts approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes of charge time, projects and image anywhere from six to sixty-three inches, and features a 0.5W (mono) speaker. In case this particular handset isn't on your short list, the proj is also compatible with AU S001, VA001, H001, W63CA, W63H, W62CA and W62H series phones. You're welcome.

[Via Pico Projector Info]

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AU Mobile's iida pico projector for G9 handsets unveiled to a chorus of cheers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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