Thursday, August 06, 2009

Sony's CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 cameras boast pet-friendly settings, 'Exmor R' sensor for low-light scenarios

Sony's CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 cameras boast pet-friendly settings, 'Exmor R' sensor for low-light scenarios

If you've been waiting on the edge of your seat for some confirmation of last month's leak of the CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WS1, wait no longer. Sony's just gone official with the pair of 10.2 megapixel point and shoots, and they're about what you were expecting. The WX1 (pictured left) sports a Sony G lens, 2.7-inch LCD, 5x optical zoom with f/2.5 max aperture, 720p HD movie recording (MPEG4 format), and a new "Exmor R" back illuminated CMOS sensor for better low-light handling. The fancier TX1 has the same Exmor R sensor and 720p movie mode, but also comes with a 3-inch LCD and Carl Zeiss Vario-Tesar lens with 4x telescopic zoom. Both beauts possess the same anti-motion blur and multi-shot modes found in the DSC-HX1, as well as a BIONZ processor, facial detection, smile shutter (for snapping shots when people are smiling, of course), wide panorama capabilities, 10 frames per second burst shooting, and a "pet mode" for taking pictures of your little loved ones, helping to alleviate issues with blurring and pet red-eye. You want street date and price? WX1's coming in October for $350, black only, while the TX1's due out in September for $380 and a palette choice of silver, gray, pink, and blue. Full press release after the break.

Update: Akihabara News got some hands-on time during the Japanese unveiling.

Gallery: Sony's CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 cameras boast pet-friendly settings, 'Exmor R' sensor for low-light scenarios

Continue reading Sony's CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 cameras boast pet-friendly settings, 'Exmor R' sensor for low-light scenarios

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sony's CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 cameras boast pet-friendly settings, 'Exmor R' sensor for low-light scenarios originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi one-ups WD with industry-first 2TB 7200RPM 3.5-inch hard drive

Hitachi one-ups WD with industry-first 2TB 7200RPM 3.5-inch hard drive

Western Digital may have been first to launch a two terabyte 3.5-inch desktop hard drive, but it's Hitachi snagging the first 7200RPM 2TB crown (WD's entry hummed along at 5400RPM). Launched today, the 2TB Deskstar 7K2000 also features 32MB of cache and a 3Gbps SATA interface, but unfortunately, few other details are being disclosed. As in, there's no pricing or release information whatsoever. In related news, the company is also refreshing its 7200RPM Deskstar 7K1000.C line, which is available in sizes ranging from 160GB to 1TB. The full, completely unprovocative press release is just after the break.

Continue reading Hitachi one-ups WD with industry-first 2TB 7200RPM 3.5-inch hard drive

Filed under: Storage

Hitachi one-ups WD with industry-first 2TB 7200RPM 3.5-inch hard drive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

ClickZ blog: The JK Wedding Dance: A Manufactured Success? - http://bit.ly/X8MV0

TinyChat Doubles Video Resolution and Adds Moderator Tools [Video Chat]

TinyChat Doubles Video Resolution and Adds Moderator Tools [Video Chat]

We've been fairly impressed with TinyChat, the instant multimedia chat service that offers video and audio connections for a dozen people at once. Now the video resolution and frame rates are better, and room creators have better controls.

Tinychat's blog claims a 4x improvement to free account video quality, while ReadWriteWeb states that video resolutions and frame rates have doubled—though that might be the same improvement stated different ways. What's really helpful are the new controls for room creators. Room owners can force a "push to talk" mode, where those signing on without headphones only talk when they press a screen button, eliminating endless echo effects. Owners can also get specific enabling of certain chatters' audio and video feeds, force users to sign in with Twitter handles to verify identities, and ban users based on IP address for 24 hours.

A bunch more bug fixes and minor features went into Tinychat recently, detailed at the blog link below.

Some new features + room control [Tinychat blog via ReadWriteWeb]

Office on the Forest's Edge [Featured Workspace]

Office on the Forest's Edge [Featured Workspace]

The only thing today's featured office shares with your average office is the fact that it has a roof and a floor. Beyond that it's quite a different space than most of us spend our days in.

Lifehacker reader Peter Frazier has the kind of home office and accompanying views that fill the daydreams of cubicle dwellers across the land. His office is glass on three sides with a cantilevered deck that looks over the densely forested shores of Chuckanut Bay. Peter describes his motivation for using the space as he does:

Like many in the computer industry, I graduated from college thin and fit, but since then, through years of all-nighters, sitting in front of my screen for long hours, and a rich diet I became overweight. I went from 190 to 242 pounds as I grew into each role: graphic designer, user interface designer, customer experience researcher, businessperson, husband, father, and community member. Last Fall I said, "Enough already!"

Recently I decided that working standing up would help me live a more active life. It's worked. Along with meditating, running, hiking, and kayaking, working standing up (with hourly interludes of pushups, situps or yoga) I've dropped 30 pounds. My thinking is clearer for longer and you're more likely to find me with things in perspective.

I'm fortunate enough to work at home above Chuckanut Bay in Bellingham, Washington.

This stand up desk is a piece of cedar with its live edge intact. On it I have room for a Dell 24" monitor as well as my MacBook Pro, and my good old Monsoon sound system. The hard drive holds the documentary I am working on called "Stumbleb! um".

Check out the photos below to see his office from different angles and make sure to visit the link below to his Flickr gallery for additional notes on each image.

If you have a workspace of your own to show off, throw the pictures on your Flickr account and add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool. Include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.

Office on the Forest's Edge [Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool]

Apple Tablet Probability Meter: 90% Chance, 4 Months Away [Apple Tablet]

Apple Tablet Probability Meter: 90% Chance, 4 Months Away [Apple Tablet]

After last Sunday's rumor on the Apple Tablet's September announcement, and yesterday's evidence of two new Apple products in the iPhone OS 3.1 USB devices list, we have decided to elevate the level inour Apple Tablet Probability Meter to 90%.

The launch date remains the same: September launch, November release. Or so we hope. Like always, remember this is just our bet based on the evidence and rumors at hand.

Fraunhofer Institute's fruit checker device tracks optimum ripeness so you can stop sniffing those melons

Fraunhofer Institute's fruit checker device tracks optimum ripeness so you can stop sniffing those melons

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a small device that can be used to check the freshness of fruit, telling the interested parties whether it's ripe or not. Based on previous technologies which measure, for example car emissions, the device measures the volatile gases emitted by the fruit and analyzes its makeup to determine the state of freshness. The team already has a working prototype, and sees the device, which would cost somewhere in the thousands of dollars range, as having widespread application for businesses that supply food to grocery stores. So far the device has only successfully been used to test the freshness of fruit, but researchers see possible future applications in testing meat as well.

Filed under: Science

Fraunhofer Institute's fruit checker device tracks optimum ripeness so you can stop sniffing those melons originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Orbiting fuel stations proposed for trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond

Orbiting fuel stations proposed for trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond

A US government panel, summoned by el presidente to review the future of human space travel, has expressed strong support for introducing fuel depots into Earth's orbit. Refueling between stops is expected to cut down significantly on the weight of spacecraft and, accordingly, eliminate the need to engineer ever more powerful rockets to launch missions. It would then be up to private companies to compete -- and NASA already knows a thing or two about privatizing space missions -- by reducing costs and developing more efficient methods. While by no means the only potion NASA has bubbling, if the panel concludes in favor of orbiting gas stations, they will form the backbone of all future extraterrestrial exploration. So we're just letting you know in advance -- we're nice like that.

Filed under: Science

Orbiting fuel stations proposed for trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS' 11.6-inch 1101HA netbook finally on sale in America

ASUS' 11.6-inch 1101HA netbook finally on sale in America

Call it coincidence or call it fate, but just as soon as we saw Samsung's 11.6-inch N510 netbook go on sale across the pond, ASUS' long-awaited 11.6-inch Eee PC 1101HA has netted itself a date with UPS here on US soil. The machine is the first in the Seashell range to boast a display larger than 11 inches, though the atypical WXGA (1,366 x 768) panel is about the only thing that'll turn heads. Within, you'll find an exceedingly bland array of parts: an Atom Z520 processor, 1GB of RAM, GMA 500 integrated graphics, a 160GB hard drive (still with us?), three USB 2.0 sockets, a 1.3 megapixel camera, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth and audio in / out jacks. If you aren't down with waiting to see what kind of netbook revolution coincides with the launch of Windows 7, you can order yours up from the links below for $429.99.

[Via Netbooked]

Read - BuyDig.com order page
Read - NewEgg.com order page

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS' 11.6-inch 1101HA netbook finally on sale in America originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study says LEDs are about as efficient as compact fluorescents, all things considered

Study says LEDs are about as efficient as compact fluorescents, all things considered

As we've seen with the slight resurgence of new and improved incandescent light bulbs, the amount of energy used to actually light up the bulb isn't necessarily the whole measure of energy efficiency. There's also the small matter of producing the bulb, shipping it around the world, and eventually disposing of it. With that in mind, the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations conducted a study that compared regular compact fluorescents to LED lamps -- using one 25,000-hour LED lamp as a constant, compared to 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents (and 25 1,000-hour incandescents). While it's still holding back on some of the finer details, the group did apparently find that LEDs are no more or no less energy efficient than compact flourescents when the entire lifecycle of the bulb is taken into account, although it is quick to point out that LEDs should eventually win out as they become more efficient to produce.

Filed under: Household

Study says LEDs are about as efficient as compact fluorescents, all things considered originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BFG gifts GTX 285 and GTX 295 cards with self-contained liquid cooling

BFG gifts GTX 285 and GTX 295 cards with self-contained liquid cooling

Believe it or not, this is far from the first time we've heard of a liquid cooled GPU; in fact, NVIDIA was tossing the idea around way back in 2006, when Quake III and Unreal Tournament were still top titles in the FPS realm. BFG Technologies, which currently holds the greatest name for a graphics card company ever, has today introduced its GeForce GTX 285 H2O+ and GeForce GTX 295 H2OC cards, both of which boast ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solutions (read: self-contained liquid cooling systems). BFG swears that both cards are completely maintenance free, with the GPUs kept around 30°C cooler under load as compared to standard air cooled models. There's no mention of pricing just yet, but both should be available any moment at NewEgg. Good luck resisting the sudden urge to upgrade.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

BFG gifts GTX 285 and GTX 295 cards with self-contained liquid cooling originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's Ion-infused N510 netbook steeply priced across the pond

Samsung's Ion-infused N510 netbook steeply priced across the pond

€499. $717. Or three easy payments of €171 ($246). That's the price folks in Europe are being asked to pony up for Samsung's admittedly svelte 11.6-inch N510 netbook. As one of the largest netbooks in its class, this machine -- which can purportedly last for around 6.5 hours under ideal circumstances -- also packs NVIDIA's Ion technology, but a sluggish Atom N280 is still manning the ship. If you'll recall, we actually heard that this here rig would surface sometime this summer, but it looks as if those orders may end up pushed to September. Anyone care to place a pre-order? Or are you more interested in those "real laptops" for just north of seven Benjamins?

[Via Blogeee]

Filed under: Laptops

Samsung's Ion-infused N510 netbook steeply priced across the pond originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Unsubscribing made easy

Unsubscribing made easy

Posted by Brad Taylor, Gmail Spam Czar

We believe you should only get the mail you want to get. Some of you already use the "Report Spam" button on all kinds of unwanted email, and for that we're very thankful: the more spam you mark, the better our system gets at weeding out junk mail.

Unsubscribing from mailing lists and newsletters you subscribed to a while back but no longer want to receive should be just as easy. Searching through individual messages for little unsubscribe links is too big a pain —you should be able to unsubscribe with a single click.

So we just launched something that makes this all work better, both for Gmail users and big email senders. Now, when you report spam on a legitimate newsletter or mailing list, we'll help you unsubscribe. After clicking report spam, you'll see a little dialog like this:

Clicking "Unsubscribe" will automatically send a request back to the sender so they'll stop emailing you.

This only works for some senders right now. We're actively encouraging senders to support auto-unsubscribe — we think 100% should. We won't provide the unsubscribe option on messages from spammers: we can't trust that they'll actually unsubscribe you, and they might even send you more spam. So you'll only see the unsubscribe option for senders that we're pretty sure are not spammers and will actually honor your unsubscr! ibe requ est. We're being pretty conservative about which senders to trust in the beginning; over time, we hope to offer the ability to unsubscribe from more email.

For those of you senders who are interested in this feature, the most basic requirements are including a standard "List-Unsubscribe" header in your email with a "mailto" URL and, of course, honoring requests from users wishing to unsubscribe. You'll also need to follow good sending practices, which in a nutshell means not sending unwanted email (see our bulk sending guidelines for more information).

With an easy way to unsubscribe, everybody wins. Your spam folder is smaller, and senders don't waste time sending you email that you no longer want.

Update (1:50pm): If you want to unsubscribe without reporting the message as spam, click "show details" in the top-right corner of the message, then click "Unsubscribe from this sender."

Star Trek Meets Golden Eye at Moscow Electricity Control Center [Architecture]

Star Trek Meets Golden Eye at Moscow Electricity Control Center [Architecture]

This amazing 320 square meter control room features a two-level, six-workstation podium to oversee the Moscow United electricity network. More after the jump.

Designed by Russian architects, Arch Group, and ABTB, the space includes a wall of 36 Barco video cubes detailing the network's current condition.

(Updated pic, thanks Larissa!)

The project was apparently built in 2008-2009, but it almost looks rendered with all those super clean lines. One thing's for sure: give me 5 minutes in the Captain's chair and my gear's cable clutter will have the whole shop looking more like something from the Matrix. [Arch Group and Dezeen via William Gibson and Unfolding]

Mimo 710-S Monitor Flips Shut to Go Portable [Monitors]

Mimo 710-S Monitor Flips Shut to Go Portable [Monitors]

If you're looking for a tiny, extra monitor, Nanovision makes some utilitarian Mimo-branded gear. But now their latest 710-S monitor adds a bit of flare to the mix.

The Mimo 710-S is the "Mobile Slider" edition of their existing line, a 7-inch, 800x480 USB monitor that opens like a clamshell and rotates 90 degrees depending on your viewing preference. The catch? It costs $20 more than the existing Mimo 710 to attain this new portable formfactor. So if you're not planning to travel with it, you can probably save a few bucks on an older model.

Look for the 710-S when it's released later this month for $150. [Mimo via Everything USB via DVICE via Engadget]

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