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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Video: Tele Atlas' photorealistic city models to aid navigation, terrorism

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/20/video-tele-atlas-photorealistic-city-models-to-aid-navigation/

Navigation devices are everywhere and just keep getting better and better thanks to the 3D maps provided by the likes of Tele Atlas (owned by TomTom) and NAVTEQ (owned by Nokia). Now Tele Atlas is announcing its photorealistic "Advanced City Models" destined for in-car and portable navigation systems and mobile devices. In June, Tele Atlas will release 40 maps based on BLOM arial imagery for cities across Europe -- hundreds more cities, including those in North America and Asia, will be available in 2010. Remember, Google already has laid ink to paper to give it rights to Tele Atlas maps for use in Google's mobile, desktop, and on-line offerings. And with Tele Atlas maps loaded on PSPs and navigators from Pioneer, Mio, and of course TomTom, just think of this as a hint of what's to come.

Continue reading Video: Tele Atlas' photorealistic city models to aid navigation, terrorism

Filed under: GPS, Handhelds

Video: Tele Atlas' photorealistic city models to aid navigation, terrorism originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 06:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google announces first PowerMeter partners, we beg for more

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/20/google-announces-first-powermeter-partners-we-beg-for-more/

At last, we have the first partners in Google's quest to make your personal power consumption visible on your home computer. As the thinking goes, if you can't measure it, you can't improve it. So Google wants to give consumers near real-time visibility to their consumption and usage patterns via Google's PowerMeter software and utility-supplied "smart meters." The hope here, is that those aware of their energy consumption habits will change them to save money, and in turn, the planet. The initial list of partner utilities represent millions of homes spread across cities and country-sides in the US, Canada, and India:

San Diego Gas & Electric(R) (California)
TXU Energy (Texas) JEA (Florida)
Reliance Energy (India)
Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Wisconsin)
White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri)
Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited (Canada)
Glasgow EPB (Kentucky)

Google has also partnered with Itron to embed its PowerMeter software into Itron smart meters. While we applaud the effort, seeing energy consumption for the entire house, only, is far too macro (though a good first step). What we're waiting for is the marriage of this with home automation and monitoring solutions based on Z-Wave and ZigbBee, for example, so we can gain visibility and control down to the device level. Imagine a single software view that lets you drill all the way down to see how much energy your computer, lights, or home theater projector is consuming and then shut 'em down when not in use or to avoid vampire drain. Hey Nokia, you're working on a Home Control Center... you reading this? Google's looking for partners.

Filed under: Household

Google announces first PowerMeter partners, we beg for more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 May 2009 03:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

E&S' 8K Laser Projectors Also Display 3D Content in HD [Projectors]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Pk3XwK_VNnA/es-8k-laser-projectors-also-display-3d-content-in-hd

Fresh off of JVC's 8K projectors announcement, Evans & Sutherland's newest laser projector, the ESLP 8K, not only displays a resolution of 8K in 2D, but also projects visuals in 3D as well.

Different from other lamp-drive projectors, the ESLP 8K laser projector displays quality that is apparently sixteen times 1080p HD resolution, with a 200% wider color spectrum, smoother playback and a miniscule environmental footprint. This laser projector is also the first one to display 3D content in 4K x 4K resolution, using only a single projector.

For those interested in checking out these high definition projectors for themselves, the ESLP 8K will be demonstrated at InfoComm this year, and will also be available on the market sometime during the second half of 2009. [E&S]

LG world's thinnest LCD is only 0.23 inches thick

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/lg-worlds-thinnest-lcd-is-only-0-23-inches-thick-/

Looks like we've got a new record holder for world's thinnest LCD, as LG pegs its new 42- and 47-inch models at only 5.9mm thick. Apparently lacking an iPhone for the accepted measurement of thinness, this model was reduced to holding up a coin for an example of LG's edge LED lit prowess. Though you may prefer local dimming LEDs, DisplayBlog is hopeful we'll see a combo of the two lighting schemes bringing thinness and high picture quality next year. Meanwhile, compare these to JVC's magnetically mounted former champ, measuring a now-widebody 7mm thick, but at only 5kg, still holding a weight edge over these two at 6.1 and 7.3kg, respectively. LG promises 120Hz refresh technology and 80% of the NTSC color gamut, up from 72% on standard models, on these, but we'll wait for them to go from the demo stand to the store shelf before revisiting the question of whether thinner and more energy efficient is actually better.

[Via DisplayBlog]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

LG world's thinnest LCD is only 0.23 inches thick originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 01:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp's solar 936SH and 934SH with "memory LCD" headline latest SoftBank lineup

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/sharps-solar-936sh-and-934sh-with-memory-lcd-headline-latest/

As you might expect, Japanese carrier SoftBank's summer 2009 lineup contains the usual science-fiction array of ridiculously well-equipped handsets -- plus 3G photo frames and a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 with embedded WWAN -- but the real news here might be a pair of lovelies from Sharp. The mirumo 934SH (pictured left) features a 3-inch external display that can display time, date, weather, news, and other information without consuming any power between changes; sounds like E-Ink, though Sharp describes it simply as a "memory LCD." You've also got an 8 megapixel camera, a waterproof shell, and a UV sensor that can help you determine just how quickly you need to slather on the SPF 30. Next up is the Solar Hybrid 936SH, a phone suspiciously similar in concept to the device Sharp is working on for SoftBank competitor KDDI au. Clearly the big draw here is the big solar array up front that'll give you one minute of call time or two hours of standby per 10 minutes of charging, but you've still got IPX7 water resistance, an 8 megapixel camera, and a full wide VGA display at your disposal. Look for the 934SH in June and the 936SH in August -- if you happen to be in Japan, anyhow.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sharp's solar 936SH and 934SH with "memory LCD" headline latest SoftBank lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 02:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp AQUOS SHOT 933SH offers 10 megapixels on a silver cellular platter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/sharp-aquos-shot-933sh-offers-10-megapixels-on-a-silver-cellular/

Is it a phone? Is it a camera? Does it really matter anymore? If neither the mirumo 934SH nor the Solar Hybrid 936SH are quite to your liking, feast your eyes on this other wonder from Sharp that's hitting SoftBank Mobile in Japan this summer, the AQUOS SHOT 933SH. The headlining feature on this sucker would be the massive optics combined with a 10 megapixel low-noise CCD sensor, which is made infinitely easier to use as an actual camera thanks to a rotating touchscreen display -- just flip it around, snap it facing outwards, and voilà, your old point-and-shoot is on notice. Otherwise, you've got a 3.3-inch WVGA display (perfect for viewing one-seg television) and global roaming capability, so don't be surprised if we try to smuggle one of these stateside when it launches in late May, alright?

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Sharp AQUOS SHOT 933SH offers 10 megapixels on a silver cellular platter originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 04:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atheros AR6002 makes NEC's N-06A dual-mode handset a WiFi access point

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/atheros-ar6002-makes-necs-n-06a-dual-mode-handset-a-wifi-access/

We've seen oodles of dual-mode handsets, but none quite like this. Rather than boasting two radios, two keyboards or two faces, NEC's N-06A -- which is gearing up to debut on NTT DoCoMo over in Japan -- actually has two purposes. Aside from making calls on the carrier's FOMA network, the phone can actually double as a wireless access point when AP Mode is enabled. The handset packs a cutting-edge Atheros AR6002 module, which enables handsets to operate in infrastructure mode, the primary wireless connectivity framework employed in access points, routers, laptops and other WLAN devices. In other words, your netbook (and seven other WiFi-enabled devices) can hop online via your handset, and it's far easier than the wacky tethering methods we deal with today. Other specs include an 8.1 megapixel camera, HSDPA / WLAN models and a miraculous 3.2-inch touchscreen with an 854 x 480 resolution. There's no mention of a price or ship date for the handset, but more than that, we're thirsty for details on when this chipset will be featured in a handset that's headed to US soil. Check the full release after the break.

Gallery: NEC's N-06A dual-mode handset acts like a WiFi access point

Continue reading Atheros AR6002 makes NEC's N-06A dual-mode handset a WiFi access point

Filed under: Cellphones

Atheros AR6002 makes NEC's N-06A dual-mode handset a WiFi access point originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TransferJet completes close-proximity specs, now wants members, respect

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/transferjet-completes-close-proximity-specifics-now-wants-membe/

TransferJet completes close-proximity specifications, wants members, respect

Wahey! It's been awhile since we've heard from you, TransferJet, the high-speed but low-range wireless would-be standard that promises 560Mbps over a near-adjacent range of just 3cm. Sony kicked off the initiative, but now has about 15 others playing along who have all managed to put aside their differences to finalize the specs on both the physical and connection layers. All they need now is hardware, and so starting today they're graciously asking for more members to join their consortium -- not that they would have turned you away yesterday. Still no sign of when actual devices using this technology will hit retail, but where there's a spec there's always a prototype.

Filed under: Wireless

TransferJet completes close-proximity specs, now wants members, respect originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OCZ's Z-Drive priced at Amazon: $1,561 and way up

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/oczs-z-drive-priced-at-amazon-1-561-and-way-up/

The kind folks at OCZ Technology's CeBIT booth told us that they expected the forthcoming Z-Drive to be priced between $1,500 and $2,000, and unfortunately for consumers, they were obviously just talking about the starting tag. Today, the much-hyped PCI-Express SSD card -- which strings a few blocks of flash memory together on a wicked fast PCI-E pipeline -- has been listed at Amazon, and the asking prices are downright eye-popping. The drive is slated to ship in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB flavors, with Amazon demanding $1,561.30, $2,450.50 and $3,368.99 for each in order of mention. We know read rates up to 500MB/sec and write rates of up to 470MB/sec are appealing and all, but damn.

[Thanks, Gary]

Read - 250GB Z-Drive listing
Read - 500GB Z-Drive listing
Read - 1TB Z-Drive listing

Filed under: Storage

OCZ's Z-Drive priced at Amazon: $1,561 and way up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sanyo's 802.11n-enabled PLC-WXU700 gets official for the US

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/sanyos-802-11n-enabled-plc-wxu700-gets-official-for-the-us/

Sanyo already announced its PLC-WXU700 for Japan last week (or LP-WX700, as it's known there) but the company has now finally gotten official about its availability over here, and cleared up a bit of confusion in the process. In case you missed it, this one is apparently the world's first projector to pack built-in 802.11n WiFi, which should come in particularly handy with the projector's video streaming functionality. Otherwise, you can expect to get the standard WGXA resolution, along with a decent 3,800 lumens, a 500:1 contrast ratio, all the basic inputs, a USB port, and a plain old LAN port in case you get stuck in a conference room without WiFi. The key detail that's been up in the air, however, is the price, which it turns out is neither $642 or $6,445 but an expectedly disappointing $2,995. Look for it to be available sometime next month.

Filed under: Displays

Sanyo's 802.11n-enabled PLC-WXU700 gets official for the US originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DigiFi and Kleer debut Digital Opera S2, S5 wireless earbuds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/19/digifi-and-kleer-debut-digital-opera-s2-s5-wireless-earbuds/

We haven't heard much from the Kleer / DigiFi combo since they finally brought their first Opera wireless earbuds to the US at the beginning of the year, but they're now back with not one but two new sets of 'phones, including the follow-up Digital Opera S2 and the Made for iPod Digital Opera S5. As you might suspect, both models are mostly identical, and pack the same 32 foot range and ten hours of playtime as before, along with the usual promise of uncompressed, CD quality audio. The S5 model, however, adds an iPod-compatible transmitter and some control buttons right on the headphones themselves, while the S2 opts for a basic 3.5mm-based transmitter to accomodate your non-Apple gadgets. No word on pricing just yet, but both should be available on June 20th.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

DigiFi and Kleer debut Digital Opera S2, S5 wireless earbuds originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 May 2009 14:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

NEC Japan announces its SuperSpeed USB 3.0 controller

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/nec-japan-announces-its-superspeed-usb-3-0-controller/

Have you got that USB 3.0 cable on your hope chest, just killing time until your SuperSpeed dreams become a reality? Well, that day is almost at hand: NEC has just announced details for the first USB 3.0 controller. The µPD720200 chip is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 and USB 2.0, with the company making samples available this June at $15 a pop (including Windows drivers). Look forward to seeing peripherals hit the streets soon after. Until then? Like the rest of us, you'll just have to keep on keepin' on.

[Via Everything USB]

Filed under: Peripherals

NEC Japan announces its SuperSpeed USB 3.0 controller originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 May 2009 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EeeRotate Orients Your Laptop Screen for Easy Reading [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/erSCXYVKmAg/eeerotate-orients-your-laptop-screen-for-easy-reading

Windows only: With the proliferation of lightweight and wide-screen notebooks, it was only a matter of time before someone realized that they make decent e-book readers when they're sideways. EeeRotate makes swapping orientation easy.

Photo by TeleRead.

Once installed, the tiny application rotates your screen and trackpad input using keyboard shortcuts. CTRL+ALT+RIGHT rotates your screen and touchpad input 90 degrees clockwise, CTRL+ALT+UP returns it to normal. Interestingly, in our tests EeeRotate would rotate the touchpad input, but not the input from the USB mouse plugged into the laptop. The navigation wasn't difficult using either one of them, and you'd likely not have an external mouse plugged in if you were using it as an e-book reader, but it's worth noting. Next time you find yourself reading lengthy documents on your wide screen laptop or netbook, EeeRotate can help you take advantage of your expansive screen space. EeeRotate is freeware, Windows only.

EeeRotate [via TeleRead]

Rendeznew Locates a Midway Point for Multiple Travelers [Travel]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/whlIZZjZV-4/rendeznew-locates-a-midway-point-for-multiple-travelers

You and some friends need to meet up. Free webapp Rendeznew eliminates the ten-minute arguments about fair driving distances and provides a list of equi-distant meeting spots.

Unlike previously reviewed MeetInBetweenUs and Mezzoman, which only allow for two addresses, Rendeznew allows you to enter up to four addresses in order to find a middle ground between all of the locations.

For the screenshot above, we put together a hypothetical Lifehacker Editors' Road Trip, which would—fingers crossed!—end with us arriving at a turkey ranch in Kansas. You can drill down through local listings to find various spots like coffee shops, bars, museums, restaurants and more. If the midway point ends up being, well, not exactly an inspiring destination—ours was 40 miles north of Wichita— you can simply drag the big green arrow to a new location. Each search has a unique link you can share with your friends, and every suggested midway point has a set of directions for each of the four addresses. Rendeznew is a Google Maps mashup with search results provided by Google and Yelp.

Rendeznew [via MakeUseOf]

How Do You Get Your News? [Ask The Readers]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/kDoAx-6gW5A/how-do-you-get-your-news

With the multitude of competing mediums these days, it's easy to pick and choose your information inputs. Newspapers, television, RSS, Twitter—how do you mix and pick your news sources?

Thomas Baekdal details the patterns of communication over the last hundred years and the shifts that have occurred. If your great-grandparents wanted to stay current on the news, for instance, they had to make a conscious effort to be places where people were talking about it. Now you can have it streamed, beamed, and delivered.

Where do you fall on the chart pictured above? Newspaper reader? Avid talk radio listener? All internet news, all the time? Tell us how you get your news, and where you think you'll be getting it in years to come, in the comments.

Where is Everyone? [via Digital Inspiration]

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