Thursday, June 18, 2009

Researchers Cram a Camera Into a Sheet of Fiber [Future Tech]

Researchers Cram a Camera Into a Sheet of Fiber [Future Tech]

Another day, another innovation from MIT researchers. This time, it's a camera built in the middle of a 25mm fiber sheet, which might be the coolest invention we will never use (save for an appearance in Splinter Cell 10).

MIT Tech Review says Noel Fink, the man responsible for the breakthrough, isn't even entirely sure what it could be used for, except for weaving it into clothing for some military reconnaissance. But the fact that it's designed to be foldable.

Researchers worked this magic by embedding 8 sensors in an arrangement around the center of the fiber sheet which allows it to detect light and color from various angles. Even better, the sensors can detect the angle at which light hits the fiber, which would make 3D imaging theoretically possible. (the MIT article goes into even greater depth as to how they pulled this off, but I'm trying to keep you awake). Anyways, cameraphones are so 2000s. In the '10s I want a goddamn camerasuit. [MIT Tech Review]

Schematic "Touchwall" Is Multitouch, Multi-User, Freakin' Huge [Touch Screen]

Schematic "Touchwall" Is Multitouch, Multi-User, Freakin' Huge [Touch Screen]

An immersive multitouch, multi-user "Touchwall" has been revealed... for trade conference attendees.

Billed as an "intelligent, multi-user Touchwall" the kit, made by Schematic, uses their previous multitouch panels to create a surface which can be used by multiple people.

It is being used for the first time at an advertising festival in Cannes, where it can recognize attendees by their RFID badges and offers them a personalized workspace wherever they happen to be standing. It also displays relevant info, such as 3D maps of where they need to go and features a built in social network element for users to leave each other messages.

But the special thing about the Touchwall is its multi-user capabilities where people can work side by side and even share information. [BoingBoingGadgets]

First Spaceport Ever Begins Construction this Friday [Space]

First Spaceport Ever Begins Construction this Friday [Space]

This newly-released image shows the sun rising over Spaceport America. It hasn't been built yet, but construction starts this Friday. It will be the beginning of the real future, the stuff dreams are made of.*

Spaceport America will be the first spaceport in history, and it will host commercial operations by private space travel companies, like Virgin Galactic.

I'm sure that—in a few centuries—this structure will be buried under multiple layers belonging to another huge structure: A giant spaceport—one of many in the world—in which massive spacecrafts will be lifting off and arriving from trips from the Moon, Mars, Titan, and Europa. Or at least, I hope that's what will happen.

If you are around, you can attend the historic groundbreaking ceremony—the first step in its construction—on Friday, June 19, 2009. Check the link for details. [Spaceport America]

* Apparently, the stuff dreams are made of look like vaginas from the air. Rubber vaginas.

Koenigsegg's "Solar Sportscar" Could Be Speeding Past You Soon [Cars]

Koenigsegg's "Solar Sportscar" Could Be Speeding Past You Soon [Cars]

The Koenigsegg Quant, an impressive Batmobile-styled solar sportscar, could soon be going into production.

When we first saw it earlier this year, we feared it could be just another prototype which never made in into production. But now an insider at the Swedish car manufacturer has told a newspaper they are set to start making them, albeit in limited numbers.

Koenigsegg, who are in talks to buy Saab from GM, say the car has 512hp and can speed from 0-62 in 5.2 seconds. It features a thin solar coating on the bodywork to top up power and can be charged (in a more conventional way) within 20 minutes. There is no word on price but suffice to say you won't be able to afford one. [RegHardware]

NEC and Toshiba hop on IBM's Semiconductor Alliance train for the ride to 28nm

NEC and Toshiba hop on IBM's Semiconductor Alliance train for the ride to 28nm

NEC and Toshiba hop on IBM's Semiconductor Alliance train for the ride to 28nm

IBM seems seriously intent to beat Intel to the tiny, 28nm processor punch, and has enlisted even more help to get there first. After securing deals with Samsung, Globalfoundries, and a few other merry chipmakers in April, NEC and Toshiba are now joining in on the Semiconductor Alliance fun to create next-generation processors before the biggest name in current-generation processors. Goals are smaller footprints, lower power consumption, and of course greater performance. Mind you, that greater performance is still likely two years away from anything we can hope to buy.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

NEC and Toshiba hop on IBM's Semiconductor Alliance train for the ride to 28nm originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 3GS Review Matrix: What Everybody's Saying [Review Matrix]

iPhone 3GS Review Matrix: What Everybody's Saying [Review Matrix]

It's time for another roundup of pundits espousing heartfelt admiration and none-too-bloody criticism of a pretty hot Apple product. How did they—I mean "it"—do this time around? Have a look-see...

As usual, this matrix is just the tip of the molehill—if you want to really get in deep with these colorful characters, here's where to look:

• NYT - David Pogue

• WSJ - Walt Mossberg

• USA Today - Ed Baig

• Wired - Steven Levy

• Cnet - Kent German

• Engadget - Josh Topolsky

• Gizmodo - Jason Chen

Popcorn Hour prices C-200 media streamer at $299, launches next month

Popcorn Hour prices C-200 media streamer at $299, launches next month

Looking for a more official announcement than a forum post? Beyond the read link awaits Popcorn Hour's official press release for the C-200 containing some of the details we so desperately wanted, like a July release window and price of $299. Otherwise the details remain the same with support for nearly every codec we could ask for and a front mounted drive bay ready for HDD or optical drives of your choosing. We sent over a query about the Blu-ray and Blu-ray live support mentioned, but were unable to nail down any new details -- we'd bet on being able to play back your de-AACS'd rips & backups but that's about it. Any other questions that need answering once we score some hands on time with this do it all media box?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking

Popcorn Hour prices C-200 media streamer at $299, launches next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic unveils 85-inch plasma at InfoComm '09

Panasonic unveils 85-inch plasma at InfoComm '09

Sure we'd love to see Panasonic mass produce that 4K 150-inch plasma, but so far we'll just have to be happy with a cheaper 103-inch HDTV and the latest model, an 85-inch 1080p display it's showing off at InfoComm '09 this week. All that super size flat panel building experience has been poured into a package that is 99mm thick and apparently 30 percent lighter per square inch than its 103-inch cousin, at a total of 130Kg. This one's coming through business channels to Japan and the U.S. this fall, 'til then you'll just have to live with your 4 x 42-inch matrix setup or for the cost conscious, a projector.

[Via AV Watch & Japan Corp (English)]

Filed under: HDTV

Panasonic unveils 85-inch plasma at InfoComm '09 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to tether your iPhone running OS 3.0 without jailbreaking, for free

How to tether your iPhone running OS 3.0 without jailbreaking, for free

Is it simple? Yes. Risky? A bit. Legal? We'll leave that to the lawyers 'cause we know that you're aching to give tethering a spin over your newly downloaded iPhone OS 3.0 update. We've seen several guides to enable tethering ever since OS 3.0 was first released into beta (and into the wilds) oh so many days ago. However, these were always carrier/country specific and required a bit more command line tampering than the common man could stomach. Now an automated solution has come to our attention that just works, is global, and doesn't require a jailbreak. Essentially, you use your iPhone to browse to a site that you've never heard of (help.benm.at), download a file that promises to reconfigure your local carrier profile, and then switch on tethering as you would had you tithed a monthly tethering fee to your carrier. We've confirmed that it works on T-Mobile NL and on O2 UK. There's obvious risk here so be careful and backup your iPhone first before giving this a shot. And don't go nuts either -- remember, your unlimited data plan likely contains a "fair use" clause and you can bet that carriers won't be happy to see their bandwidth diminish without compensation. Now brace yourselves and hit the read link for the full procedure... ready, go!

Update: Some are reporting that this procedure could disable MMS and visual voicemail depending on your country and carrier -- a fair trade for many.

Update 2: Techradar reports that O2 UK has responded to tethering hack saying, "we reserve the right to charge customers making modem use of their iPhone or disconnect them." This assumes O2 can identify such customers.

Filed under: Cellphones

How to tether your iPhone running OS 3.0 without jailbreaking, for free originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG readies first 47LH50 3D LCD TV -- just 29,999,999 to go

LG readies first 47LH50 3D LCD TV -- just 29,999,999 to go

LG is set to release it's first 3D TV -- the 47-inch 47LH50 LCD -- into the Korean market next month. As our tech overlords, this could signal a trend that'll head west. In fact, LG estimates that the 3D television market will exceed 30 million units by 2012 -- exactly what we'd say too if we were in the business of selling televisions. Hmm, 30 million TVs multiplied by 4.5 pairs of glasses required for the average household -- guess we'll be investing in polarized lenses.

[Via @visitken]

LG readies first 47LH50 3D LCD TV -- just 29,999,999 to go originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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QNAP's NMP1000 network media player starts streaming to Japan

QNAP's NMP1000 network media player starts streaming to Japan

QNAP's NMP1000 network media player starts streaming to Japan

It's been ages (okay, months) since we first got our hands on the QNAP NMP1000 network media player, and it's a good long while past its supposed shipping date. But, shipping it is (finally), now hitting Japanese stores according to Akihabara News. Initially we were only told that the thing would cost "somewhere under $10,000," and we're glad to say it's way under: ¥45,000, or about $470. For that you get an HDMI 1.3-toting HD media streamer, which sports room for a 3.5-inch HDD, a gigabit Ethernet port, and the ability to not only stream media but also to act as a NAS, meaning this one didn't fall far from the 'ol family tree. Still no word on a US release, but hopefully that'll be well under $10,000 as well. Soothing demonstration video to tide you over after the break.

Continue reading QNAP's NMP1000 network media player starts streaming to Japan

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

QNAP's NMP1000 network media player starts streaming to Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

AT&T's free hotspot access finally useful with auto-connection in iPhone OS 3.0

AT&T's free hotspot access finally useful with auto-connection in iPhone OS 3.0

Back in the stone age -- iPhone OS 2.x, that is -- men wrestled wild boar to the ground with their bare hands, wore Members Only jackets, and connected to AT&T hotspots using an archaic, ridiculous process involving text messages, websites, and prayer. One previously unpublicized feature of the just-released OS 3.0, though, changes all that: connecting to your rightful WiFi coverage is now a seamless, no-brainer experience, which magically and very suddenly makes AT&T's hotspots useful. If we had to guess, these guys are looking for every reasonable way to get iPhones from the 3G network over to WiFi as often as possible, and this should certainly help. Follow the break to see exactly what it means to have an iPhone in close proximity to a Starbucks, in case you're curious.

Continue reading AT&T's free hotspot access finally useful with auto-connection in iPhone OS 3.0

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

AT&T's free hotspot access finally useful with auto-connection in iPhone OS 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASRock's Ion 330-BD nettop gets reviewed

ASRock's Ion 330-BD nettop gets reviewed

AsRock's Ion 330-BD nettop got a little lost among the twenty other Ion-based products that debuted at Computex, but the folks at TweakTown recently got a chance to spend a bit of one-on-one time with it, and they've now turned out an expectedly thorough review. As you can tell from the model name, one of the big selling points of this with this particular model is the built-in Blu-ray drive (it's also available without one), which TweakTown says feels right at home in the nettop, delivering "silky and smooth" playback with nary a hiccup. The rest of the nettop also seems to be more than up to par, with it delivering on its promise of quiet, low-power operation, and providing the performance you'd expect from the Ion / Atom combination. Better still, TweakTown says that the system can be easily overclocked to 2.1GHz without any apparent hit to stability. Hit up the link below for the complete rundown, including plenty of benchmarks and a closer look at the system itself (inside and out).

Filed under: Desktops

ASRock's Ion 330-BD nettop gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Stop-Motion Tilt-Shift Tour of Tokyo Captures City of Miniatures [Video]

A Stop-Motion Tilt-Shift Tour of Tokyo Captures City of Miniatures [Video]

Exploring Tokyo by foot is a must-do trip, but it can't match the experience of viewing the city in stop-motion tilt-shift photography. The streets become one huge playset.

Really just advertisement for Uniqlo—sort of Japan's Gap—you'll quickly forget any corporate affiliation as the virtual calendar layers the hypnotic music of Fantastic Plastic Machine behind the even more entrancing Tokyo imagery. Of course, little do you know, Uniqlo is abusing your mind's temporary complacency, planting commands to learn Japanese, visit Tokyo, consume shabu-shabu and then, maybe, buy a new shirt or two.

Still, we could do worse. [Uniqlo Video via Pink Tentacle via Tokyo Mango]

Casio XJ-S43W Super Slim Line Projector Goes Widescreen, Gets Cheaper [Projectors]

Casio XJ-S43W Super Slim Line Projector Goes Widescreen, Gets Cheaper [Projectors]

Casio's Super SlimLine DLP projectors have always been trim, but now the XJ-S43W gets a bit more appealing with widescreen support and a lower price.

While Casio's projectors, just 4lbs and 1.7 inches thick at their widest point, actually have decent specs, they've traditionally started well over $1,000 and made their way into the 2s. Now the XJ-S43W is priced at $999, plus it adds WXGA (1280 × 800) widescreen—making the data projector ever so more entertainment friendly in your company's off hours.

Other specs include 2500 lumens, 1800:1 contrast, 2X zoom and HDMI in.

While pico projectors are on the rise (with subpar picture quality), Casio brags that their Super Slims are still the thinnest 2,0000-lumen projectors in the industry...which must be why the creepy hand wants to mate with one in our lead photo. [Casio Super Slim]

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