External iPhone Mic Supposedly Gets 10x Better Audio 'Reception' [Microphone]

Brando's claiming 10x better audio reception on this external, swivelable iPhone microphone. Even if it doesn't get 10x better reception, it should get 2x better reception, which is worth $14 for most people. [Brando via Dvice]

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Tornado Tower Looks Like a Cloud, Makes Its Own Energy [Architecture]

The Tornado Tower is a design for a performing arts center in Taipei, Taiwan, and man is it crazy. That huge bubble on top is where the theater sits, and the whole thing harnesses the wind for energy.

The entire exterior is covered with curved fins that generate wind energy while also making it look like a huge cloud. At least it would be, if it was selected as the winning entry in the contest to design the performing arts center. Which is wasn't. But still, it's a pretty stunning design. [Plus Mood via Inhabitat]

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AnalogColor Ruins Quality Photos to Create Mock-Polaroid Results [Fauxlaroid]

For those who cared enough to be hurt at the death of Polaroid Instant Film but not enough to make it themselves, there's AnalogColor, which turns your crystal-clear photos into murky, nostalgic simulacrums of the classic format.

There's definitely other software that'll do this kind of thing, but AnalogColor lets you create faux-Polaroids by degrading your current photos in several different ways, including those fun streaks that resulted from light leaks. It's available for $10 on OS X and Windows. [Pentacom via Wired]

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Video: Epson and 3M create the 0.3-mm spokesmodel, eating disorders skyrocket

The technology behind this display might not be new, but the approach to demonstrating it is absolutely captivating. Good thing too because the idea here is to combine Epson's rear-projection technology with 3M's 0.3-mm thin Vikuiti film to project talking avatars onto to shop windows in a bid to lure lusty nerd-boys and impressionable Cosmo-girls in for a closer look. Check it after the break courtesy of Impress.

Continue reading Video: Epson and 3M create the 0.3-mm spokesmodel, eating disorders skyrocket

Filed under: Displays

Video: Epson and 3M create the 0.3-mm spokesmodel, eating disorders skyrocket originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is branding still a useful activity? Are reach and frequency still useful metrics? - http://ping.fm/SIDXB

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Incandescent bulbs making a comeback, GE still launching new LED lights

On the eve of Christmas 2007, quite a few obituaries for incandescent light bulbs were penned. News was slow, time was short and Congress had just outlined a new energy plan that would essentially force these energy-wasting bulbs out by 2012. Now, however, legions of scientists are racing the clock to develop new incandescents that will still meet the upcoming guidelines, with a Deposition Sciences technology paving the way for a post-2012 model from Philips. Without drowning you in technobabble, let's just say that said tech has seen 50 percent efficiency gains in the lab, which is more than enough to please even the most outspoken tree hugger in Washington. In related news, GE has issued two more LED light bulbs: the 7-watt Energy Smart LED PAR20 and 10-watt LED PAR30. Both of 'em are aimed more at commercial customers than at actual homes, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better option for lighting up your makeshift basketball court.

Read - Incandescent bulbs stage comeback
Read - GE Energy Smart bulbs

Filed under: Household

Incandescent bulbs making a comeback, GE still launching new LED lights originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OCZ cranks clock speed, DRAM on Vertex Turbo SSD

While every other solid state drive maker is thinking of snazzy new model names to slap on their next-gen wares, OCZ Technology is actually breaking up the monotony with its Vertex Turbo SSD. While we won't go so far as to say that these things are overclocked ('cause let's face it, they aren't), OCZ has bumped the core clock speed and the SDR DRAM cache to 180MHz (compared to 166MHz on the original). These drives also posses a custom firmware designed specifically for performance junkies, and the company claims that users will see read and write speeds of up to 270MBps and 210MBps, respectively. We're still waiting to hear back on pricing, but you can expect capacities of 30GB (32), 60GB (64), 120GB (128), and 250GB (256) to hit the shelves in short order.

Filed under: Storage

OCZ cranks clock speed, DRAM on Vertex Turbo SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nike Salutes Your Right To Keep And Bear Awesome T-Shirt Guns [Guns]

Have you seen that t-shirt gun in the new Nike commercial? It's cooler looking than any t-shirt gun I have ever seen—hell, it may be the coolest product Nike has ever made. And they are actually selling it.

Seriously though, even if you did have a legitimate use for a t-shirt gun, getting your hands on one is not going to be an easy task. The guns are limited edition models—each numbered and engraved with the signature of a Nike athlete. They also cost $1500. You would think that price tag would be a deterrent, but the guns are already sold out. [Nike via Doobybrain via Likecool]

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Toshiba Portege R600 Review: 512GB SSDs Are the Bee's Knees [Review]

Just last summer, Toshiba's Portege R500 was the first laptop with a 128GB SSD. A year later, Toshiba's Portege R600 is the world's first 512GB SSD lappie. So for this one moment, Toshiba is on the top of the world.

Design
Note: The R600 has been out for several months, we just tested their updated system with the mega SSD. So if you've read about the build before, you can skip down to our section on performance.

For $3,500 (as tested with 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400, 3GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel 4500MHD graphics, DVD burner, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi n), the Portege may be a bit of a disappointment right out of the box. Yes, it's ridiculously light, starting at 2.46lbs, but that weight comes at a cost of feel. It's plastic, and no amount of metal paint can get around that. But luckily the plastic is fairly smudge-proof and part of a "shock absorbing design" complete with "spill resistant" keyboard. In other words, the system may be more durable than a Macbook, especially with so few moving parts.

The 12.1-inch screen is technically WXGA (widescreen) resolution, though something about the system's shape makes it look more vertical, like a 4:3 screen of yore. This is a minor point, of course, and its non-glossy screen gets just bright enough to use indoors by a window. In full-out sunlight, you can one-button switch the system into "transreflective" mode, essentially using the sun to brighten the screen. High brightness (in standard mode) is still the brightest setting, even under dir! ect sunl ight, but the transreflective setting probably uses a lot less power.
Extras, from the effective fingerprint scanner to the eSATA and SD ports, do a lot to sweeten the deal on the small, utilitarian system. And in this era, it's straight up shocking to see an optical bay pop out of a system that's just .77 inches thick.

Performance
The R600 runs Vista very fluidly, especially given its stature. Firefox, Windows Media Player, HD content streamed from the web—none of it will leave you waiting. But given the system's Intel 4500MHD GPU, don't get any fantasies of gaming.

Many will expect the computer to boot nearly instantly given the SSD—I've heard this expectation a number of times—but the still takes about a minute to fully load. The bottleneck here is simply not the hard drive.
How does the R600 compare to other light systems like the Macbook Air or Lenovo X301? Just as you'd expect from the specs on paper, it's slower than the Macbook Air. But even with the same processor, it outperforms the X301.

Then you have to check out the speeds on the SSD.
Fast! This isn't some bargain basement drive that Toshiba shoved in a laptop for bragging rights. I mean, a 512GB SSD is clearly for bragging rights, but it's Toshiba's biggest and fastest drive made in-house—way nicer than we see competition from Lenovo and Apple (which we believe to both use earlier gen, Samsung drives).

But what does this speed chart mean in real life? Copying a 700MB file on my Macbook Pro (with a 320GB, 7200 RPM hard drive) took 35 seconds. On ! the R600 , that same copy may have legitimately cracked the 8 second barrier. I'd like to say that I never took the speed for granted, but I totally started taking the speed for granted. Superman doesn't bow down and thank the sun every time he avoids traffic by flying over Metropolis, so why should I be any different?
Toshiba's 6-cell battery is rated internally at 7 hours, 32 minutes. I found that it offers 3 hours and 35 minutes of MPEG4 playback (screen maxed bright, Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth off, performance settings normal). Our test is rigorous, and it's pretty common for laptops to only get about 50% of their rated battery life in our real world use simulation. Of course, the computer could probably eek out another 30 minutes to an hour with less taxing processes and a dimmer screen.

I Might Buy One...In 2011
The key to remember, of course, is that the 128GB R500 ran $3,000 just a year ago. Now, their 512GB R600 is $3,500. Even with the price bump on their top tier system, Toshiba has the right idea here: Push the envelope and force the market to adapt. Keep topping the sundae with cherries and someone will be hungry enough to buy it (meanwhile those of us who aren't will have plenty of dropped cherries to munch on).
Still, I don't know that I'd recommend this fully stuffed R600 with full gusto. It's simply not as beautiful as premium, small-form laptops like the Dell Adamo or Apple's Macbook Air (side by side above), and the prices of flash storage will certainly come down (and quickly at that). But I'm glad Toshiba made the thing because, frankly, somebody needed to load a laptop with a legitimately beastly SSD first.

The huge SSD Is fast

Under 3lbs, less than an inch thick

Substantial ports and extras

For $3,500, it feels a bit like a Pontiac

[Additional benchmarks from AppleInsider and ThinkPad Forums]

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Pandora Agreement Saves Internet Radio [Pandora]

Fans of internet radio can breathe a little easier today now that Pandora has reached an agreement with the music industry that puts it on secure ground for the foreseeable future.

Excessive royalty rates were the main reason sites like Pandora hovered near the brink of collapse last year, but this agreement will see a 40-50% reduction in those fees through 2015. However, Pandora will have to give up a 25% share of its revenue as part of the deal. Because these fees are higher than those of traditional radio, Pandora will also have to impose 40 hour limits on users of the free version. Should you surpass that number, you will be required to pay a $.99 fee to continue listening through the end of the month. Users of the paid version will not see a service change.

All in all, it seems like a pretty fair compromise for the listeners, but the truth is that the internet is the future of radio—and it appears that the music industry is going to screw them while they can. [TechCrunch]

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How Large Is a Petabyte? [Storage]

13.3 years of HDTV content. That's approximately 58,292 movies, which means an equal number of large pizzas. So one petabyte equals 52 tonnes of pepperoni pizza. Yes, my head has assploded. For other equivalents, click and zoom in.

How big are 20 million four-drawer cabinets? As big as the Sears Tower? I have a hard time visualizing that. Strangely enough, I don't have any problem visualizing 52 tonnes of pepperoni pizza. [Mozy]

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Viliv S7 UMPC gets final pricing and specifications

We've held onto our hats for quite awhile waiting for this day to come, but at long last, Viliv is dishing out the final specification lists and prices for its remarkably striking S7 UMPC. First shown way back at IDF 2008 as a prototype, this QWERTY-packin' machine has matured quite nicely over the months, with a trio of models on tap to showcase its mobile prowess. The entry-level I-LOG HX is equipped with a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, a battery good for 9.5 hours of use and Windows XP, while the mid-range I-LOG 3X steps up to a 32GB SSD. The flagship D-LOG 3X even gets an internal DMB TV tuner, while WiBro (South Korea's WiMAX) is an option on all three. We expect the 7-inch device -- which is priced at ₩729,000 ($572), ₩799,000 ($628) and ₩849,000 ($666) in order of mention -- to ship in its homeland soon, though no official release date has been made public.

[Via SlashGear]

Update: jkkmobile has it that international versions could feature processors as speedy as 2GHz along with Vista and a free upgrade to Windows 7.

Filed under: Handhelds

Viliv S7 UMPC gets final pricing and specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's 11.6-inch Aspire Timeline 1810T: a netbook we can finally embrace?

We're doing our darnedest to keep our expectations in check, but it looks like the long, painful wait for a halfway potent netbook may be drawing to a close. With Windows 7 just months away, laptop makers are finally able to skirt around Microsoft's Windows XP-netbook limitations in preparation for a better, more refined OS. The just-leaked Aspire Timeline 1810T, for example, shares the same chassis as the underpowered Aspire One 751, though the innards are similar to those found in the Timeline series. We're talking an 11.6-inch display (1,366 x 768 resolution), Intel's 1.4GHz ULV SU3500 processor, GMA 4500MHD graphics, hardware accelerated decoding of HD video, up to 4GB of RAM, an HDMI socket, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, optional 3G / Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and an 8-hour battery. Naturally, this one is slated to ship with Vista Home Premium, but that free upgrade to Win7 makes said pill entirely easier to swallow. C'mon Acer -- dish out the price and release date, won'tcha?

Continue reading Acer's 11.6-inch Aspire Timeline 1810T: a netbook we can finally embrace?

Filed under: Laptops

Acer's 11.6-inch Aspire Timeline 1810T: a netbook we can finally embrace? originally appea! red on < a href="http://www.engadget.com">Engadget on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OPPO's long-awaited BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player now shipping

It's been a long (long!) time coming, but we're thrilled to finally be able to say that OPPO's multifaceted BDP-83 is shipping en masse to those willing to part with five bills (or $500, for those working without conversion tables). During our time with the player, we were duly impressed with most every aspect, and if you're still on the hunt for a Blu-ray player that can spin DVD-Audio and SACD on the side, you'll be hard pressed to find a better option than this. So, who's taking the plunge?

[Via High-Def Digest]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

OPPO's long-awaited BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player now shipping originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google brings Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and Talk out of beta (updated)

Guess what, internoodle? Google Apps is officially out of beta. Do you know what that means? It means that Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and Talk are losing that "beta" signage / language you've come to know and loathe. It also seems to mean that Google will be taking a much more direct and serious approach to courting businesses for its Apps suite. At first blush, it looks like the company has all but squashed the "Standard Edition" free hosted Apps package that many now use, though that isn't the case (yet). We say "all but" because while it looks like the pro bono package has been zapped out of existence by the magic raygun of capitalism, a tiny link to the service still exists on an arcane page buried deep in the casefiles of one T. Google Merryweather III. Or just Google. To be completely clear, however, regular old Gmail will still be freely available to anyone and everyone who wants a crack at it. At any rate, you'll be happy to know that the beta tag will be scuttled later today, and you can start getting righteously mad at Google for not taking care of their proper, released products immediately. Now maybe they can get to coding up nice native versions of Gmail for the iPhone and webOS... eh?

Update: The folks at Google, bless 'em, have posted a quick note on their blog stating explicitly that the Standard version of Apps isn't going anywhere. In their words, "We have no intention of eliminating Standard Edition, and we apologize for any confusion." Nice!

Filed under: Software

Google brings Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and Talk out of beta (updated) originally appeared on Engadget o! n Tue, 0 7 Jul 2009 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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