Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

AMD releases another notebook roadmap, does not release Fusion chips

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/15/amd-releases-another-notebook-roadmap-does-not-release-fusion-c/

Well, well, a new AMD roadmap promising a superior hybrid CPU/GPU chip sometime in the distant future. That doesn't sound like the same old vaporware refrain we've been hearing about Fusion since 2006 at all, does it? Yep, everyone's favorite underdog is back in the paperwork game, and this time we've got a sheaf of pointy-eared details on the company's upcoming notebook plans, all culminating in the "Sabine" platform, which is wholly dependent on Sunnyvale actually shipping a mobile variant of the delayed Fusion APU in 2011 once it finds the Leprechaun City. In the meantime, look forward to a slew of forgettable laptops getting bumped to the "Danube" platform, which supports 45nm quad-core chips, DDR3-1066 memory, and an absolutely shocking 14 USB 2.0 ports. Ugh, seriously -- does anyone else think AMD should suck it up, put out a cheap Atom-class processor paired with a low-end Radeon that can do reasonable HD video output, and actually take it to Intel in booming low-end market instead of goofing around with the expensive, underperforming Neo platform and a fantasy chip it's been promising for three years now? Call us crazy.

[Via PC Authority; thanks Geller]

Filed under: Laptops

AMD releases another notebook roadmap, does not release Fusion chips originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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California May Get Some Power From Solar Space Cells By 2016 [Solar Power]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/IVXxDe8VGmc/california-may-get-some-power-from-solar-space-cells-by-2016

The idea of harnessing solar power from space has been around for a while; Asimov included it in at least two of his stories that I remember—but may finally be a reality come 2016.

PG&E, the state's largest power utility (and the one who gets my money every month), just signed a deal to get solar space power from Solaren.

The plan is to have solar panels collect the energy in space, shoot it down via RF transmissions, and convert that into usable electricity.

There's no risk to PG&E because they're not investing anything into the company, just agreeing to buy power at a certain rate if the space power does come through by 2016. [MSNBC]

The Verizon Hub Widget Phone Just Got a Lot More Exciting [Verizon Hub]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/7g5sxxPwnEk/the-verizon-hub-widget-phone-just-got-a-lot-more-exciting

I'm reviewing the somewhat anachronistic Verizon Hub connected phone. Now that I've seen its future—an open platform built on Linux with sleek hardware from this decade, like capacitive touchscreens—it's way more exciting.

The Hub isn't going to be a single, one-off device—there's going to be a lot of different hardware running it—which alone makes the proposition much more interesting, since platforms by definition are extensible, flexible and more likely to benefit from active development. In other words, it can and will get better over time.

Today I saw the software update that's coming in a few weeks, as well as builds further out in the future running on prototype hardware, which introduces among other things, a WebKit browser (same as Safari, Chrome, Palm Pre, etc.) a real email client, and a Twitter app. The big thing is that, like every other phone OS it seems, it's getting an App Market or "Widgets Bazaar," where you can—duh—download apps to your Hub. For now, every widget will come from Verizon, like a Flickr screensaver app or a pretty swell Rhapsody app that lets you stream music. But! The Hub is built on Linux and will eventually be opened up for anybody to develop for, which is obviously when it'll be able to reach its full potential. It kind of reminds me of Chumby, except it's a full-fledged VOIP phone too. Unfortunately, they don't have a timeline on when that's happening.

There's also no exact timeline for the new hardware either, though a "new release of some kind every few months" is what they'! re aimin g for. The new Hub hardware corrects a lot of the first-gen's problems: Namely, it's got a capacitive touchscreen (the kind that the iPhone, G1 and Storm have) meaning it'll be a much better—maybe even multitouch—experience. It's also just way sexier: The excess fat has been trimmed off, so one version is just like a glossy seven-inch upright touch tablet, while another version has it floating on a speaker, more like a multimedia hub. The new phone is more commensurate with the device too—glossy, ergonomic and with a nicer screen. Verizon's thinking about offering a range of different handsets with more capable premium models that can text message from the phone and cheaper basic ones.

Also down the road is more integration with other Verizon stuff, like FiOS. They're toying with a remote DVR app, for instance, which would be pushed just to people who have FiOS. With everything on a common Linux platform, the hope is that developers will be able to whip up a single app that'll run across everything Verizon—their FiOS boxes, phones and of course, the Hub.

If you're wondering what direction the phone companies are trying to roll in, this is pretty much it—AT&T is doing similar things with U-Verse and its mobile side—wrapping you in a giant, head-to-toe Snuggie of data supplied exclusively by them. [Verizon]

Prototype Sanyo projector throws up 1080p at near point-blank range

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/prototype-sanyo-projector-throws-up-1080p-at-near-point-blank-ra/

Sanyo's had a knack for pumping out short-throw projectors, but its latest prototype unquestionably takes the cake. Debuting without so much as a model name, this here DLP beamer -- which, at 93- x 20- x 25-inches, easily doubles as a bench -- throws up a 100-inch 1080p image with just 24-inches of space between it and the wall. Better still, that can scale up to 150-inches by adding just another foot of breathing room -- and just to remind you, we're talking full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution here. Sanyo also tossed in 7,000 lumens of brightness, though mum's the word when it comes to price or nearness to production.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Prototype Sanyo projector throws up 1080p at near point-blank range originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raleigh, North Carolina buses get on-board DTV

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/raleigh-north-carolina-buses-get-on-board-dtv/

Planning to hop on a bus in Raleigh, North Carolina anytime soon? Then there's a chance you could be treated to an added distraction during your trip, as the city has just rolled out its first CAT bus equipped with mobile DTV, which looks to be one of the first projects resulting from those MPH tests that took place last year. This little bit of magic also comes courtesy of a little help from LG and Harris Corp., who are supplying the displays and mobile transmission equipment for the pilot program, which will be expanded to five buses by August, with another 20 planned for the second phase that'll run though August 2010. Of course, your viewing options will be somewhat limited, with a simulcast of local station WRAL apparently the only channel on tap, along with some weather information and, of course, a healthy dose of advertising.

[Thanks, Dana]

Filed under: HDTV, Transportation

Raleigh, North Carolina buses get on-board DTV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OWC ships 4-bay Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 RAID box

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/14/owc-ships-4-bay-mercury-elite-al-pro-qx2-raid-box/

You won't find an Ethernet port here, but you will find everlasting peace, love and a grand total of four direct connection options alongside four hot swappable bays for up to 8TB of local storage. OWC's latest is the quad-interface Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 RAID box, which sports FireWire 400, FireWire 800, eSATA and USB 2.0 sockets 'round back. Users are graced with a number of selectable RAID settings -- 0, 1, 5, 10 or Span (NRAID) -- and the front-panel LEDs keep you informed at a glance. The box is shipping right now in a variety of configurations ranging from $679.99 (500GB x 4) to $1,149.99 (1TB x 4), and despite the unmistakable cheesegrater design, these actually won't zero out your data if plugged into a PC.

Filed under: Storage

OWC ships 4-bay Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 RAID box originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 now available for $899, 18.4-inch 8935G coming in June

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/15/acers-13-3-inch-aspire-3935-now-available-for-899-18-4-inch-8/

Still can't decide which of Acer's ample number of shiny new netbooks / laptops has caught your eye specifically? Here's some more details on two of those models, including availability, to help you out. First up, the 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 is available as now for just a smidgen under nine Benjamins. With that you'll get a golden brown metal chassis, one inch thick and and weighing in at 4.18 pounds with a frameless, 16:9 CineCrystal LED backlit display showing a 1366 x 768 resolution. Other amenities include a full-size keyboard with touch-sensitive hotkeys, multi-gesture touchpad, webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, a bio-protection fingerprint reader, 802.11 a / g / draft-N, and a 4-cell Li-ion battery. Spec-wise, we've got a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7350 with 4500MHD graphics, 8x DVD writer, 3GB RAM, 250GB HDD, and Vista Home Premium SP1. If you're looking for something with a little more horsepower, the 18.4-inch Aspire 8935G Gemstone PC's rocking an Intel Core 2 Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670, 1080p resolution, 4x Blu-ray writer, a 500GB HDD upgradeable to 1TB, and most of the niceties from 3935's spec sheet. Mum's the word on price, but it's due out in June. Full press release after the break.

Gallery: Acer's 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 now available for $899, 18.4-inch 8935G coming in June

Continue reading Acer's 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 now available for $899, 18.4-inch 8935G coming in June

Filed under: Laptops

Acer's 13.3-inch Aspire 3935 now available for $899, 18.4-inch 8935G coming in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magic Cube all-in-one card reader rotates, impresses

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/15/magic-cube-all-in-one-card-reader-rotates-impresses/

Multi-card readers? Sure, they're ususally kind of a snooze... but this one's pretty cute. The so-called Magic Cube All-in-One reader -- which looks not a little like a Rubik's cube -- is a 56-in-one jack of all trades (microSD, SDHC, SD, xD, you name it) which tranfers up to 480Mb per second, and comes with a USB to mini USB cable. You can own this puppy (for Windows and Linux) for $9.99.

Magic Cube all-in-one card reader rotates, impresses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dual-SIM phone launches in the US courtesy of... National Geographic

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/15/dual-sim-phone-launches-in-the-us-courtesy-of-national-geogra/

We'd all but forgotten that National Geographic runs a little phone business on the side through a retailer partner, but yeah, it does -- and after a couple years of forgettable hardware, things are starting to get interesting. The idea with these guys has always been to offer SIM cards that offer global roaming at a price that has at least a fighting chance of not bankrupting you, but the problem is that with a traditional phone, you've got to replace your regular SIM card while you're using it; dual-SIM phones exist in bountiful numbers outside the US, but finding a domestic model is nigh impossible. The new Duet D888 option let's you mix up one of Cellular Abroad's roaming SIM along with a second of your own, so theoretically, you could make this your primary phone if you do a lot of traveling and hate breaking your fingernails (or your will to live) every time you want to swap cards between phones. As far as we can tell, the D888 lacks GSM 850 -- so don't expect stellar reception stateside -- but it could be enough to get you by between trips to Madagascar.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Cellphones

Dual-SIM phone launches in the US courtesy of... National Geographic originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG's GC900 Viewty II gets Smart, gets official

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/15/lgs-gc900-viewty-ii-gets-smart-gets-official/

LG's GC900 Viewty II gets Smart, gets official

Put away your smudgycams and break out your wallets, LG's Viewty II has been given the full studio photo treatment as part of an unveiling at LG's official blog. Dubbed the Smart, the GC900 is just 12.4 mm thick (under a half-inch), packing a 3-inch touchscreen on its face and of course that 8 megapixel camera on the back, confirmed to be able to capture video at 720 x 480 and geotag photos using the integrated A-GPS receiver. WLAN and HSDPA are also confirmed, but that's about all the info LG is setting in stone at the moment -- not that we didn't already know everything about it.

[Via Phone Arena]

Gallery: LG GC900 Smart

Filed under: Cellphones

LG's GC900 Viewty II gets Smart, gets official originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Truth Rules - cherish the relationship over the transaction - http://ping.fm/ZsGGY

Campbell Grows Tomatoes, Coke Plants Trees - http://ping.fm/Zsj3o - favoring sustainable cause marketing rather than one-off promotions

Dell Mini 9 hacked for 3G use with some difficulty

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/dell-mini-9-hacked-for-3g-use-with-some-difficulty/

Folks discovered some time ago that Dell's stock Mini 9 just wasn't made for 3G, but that doesn't look to have stopped MyDellMini forum member Jingo5, who saw an opening on the netbook's motherboard and ran with it. As you might expect, however, that didn't exactly prove to be the easiest course of action to take, with it involving a modified 855u Sierra USB adapter, a good deal of soldering, and a fair measure of skill to ensure that the whole thing didn't backfire. He was also apparently able to pull an antenna off the LAN card to improve reception with little consequence, and even get it working under OS X using Sierra's own 3G app. Feeling brave enough to try it yourself? Then hit up the read link below for the complete details.

[Via Hack a Day]

Filed under: Laptops

Dell Mini 9 hacked for 3G use with some difficulty originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel issues firmware update for ailing X18-M and X25-M SSDs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/intel-issues-firmware-update-for-ailing-x18-m-and-x25-m-ssds/

Wait, what's this? Intel admitting that its X18-M and X25-M SSDs do actually have the potential to slow after extended use? After the company flat out denied allegations brought forth by PC Perspective earlier this year, it has now quietly pushed out a v1.1 update for the 80GB and 160GB versions of the aforementioned devices. All we're told is that it brings along "several continuous improvement optimizations intended to provide the best possible user experience," but there's absolutely no denying what it's really aiming to fix. Intel still maintains that the likelihood of users experiencing any long-term issues are next to nothing, but we'd suggest applying the update just in case. Wouldn't want to be missing out on any lightning fast read / write rates, now would you?

[Via HotHardware]

Read - Intel firmware update
Read - Updated firmware review

Filed under: Storage

Intel issues firmware update for ailing X18-M and X25-M SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Aspire Revo listed for pre-order in UK with May 18th release date

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/acer-aspire-revo-now-up-for-pre-order-in-uk-with-may-18th-releas/

Now that the Ion-based cat is out of the bag, Acer's Aspire Revo has reared its pretty head on UK retailer Play.com's website. While all four packages sport the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N230, from what we can tell there's two distinct hardware configurations here. The base price is £180 (US $267), and with that you'll get 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD, and Linux. The £300 model boasts 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, and Windows Vista Home Premium. Tack on £50 more for a 3D controller and ten games, and for £330 ($440) you can have the full package along with a wireless keyboard / mouse. The listed release date is May 18th for all of them, and with any luck Acer'll go with that date and bring the nettop stateside sometime around then.

Filed under: Desktops

Acer Aspire Revo listed for pre-order in UK with May 18th release date originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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