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Friday, September 11, 2009

MobaLiveCD Updates and Adds USB Drive Support [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/qCdZVBy72Zs/mobalivecd-updates-and-adds-usb-drive-support

Windows: Want to try out a flavor of Linux or other LiveCD-based tool without installation or even having to exit Windows? MobaLiveCD has updated to include support for both LiveCDs and bootable USB devices.

We introduced you to MobaLiveCD around this time last year—then, it only supported LiveCD disc images. Now you can use both LiveCD ISO files and bootable USB devices. In our tests we were able to boot a variety of Live USB installations like Ubuntu, GParted, and BackTrack.

Using MobaLiveCD is significantly slower than actually booting into the LiveCD/USB and notably slower than running the same LiveCD/USB in a virtual machine. Nonetheless, it's free, an absolute breeze to use, and it allows you to rapidly check out a Linux distribution with very minimal hassle.

MobaLiveCD is freeware, Windows only.

MobaLiveCD [via DownloadSquad]

Easy Peasy is a Lightweight Linux Distro Optimized for Netbooks [Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/NDPVgR6ux-A/easy-peasy-is-a-lightweight-linux-distro-optimized-for-netbooks

Got yourself a netbook, but you're a bit underwhelmed with the OS on it? Looking to squeeze a little more juice out of the low-power processor onboard? Easy Peasy is a Linux distribution designed to make netbooks better.

Click on the above image for a bigger view.

Netbooks are smaller than regular laptops, have lightweight processors—no dual cores, that's for sure!—and smaller screens. Easy Peasy is a distribution of Ubuntu Linux that works within those constraints. By default, it boots into a customized menu with large icons and easy to navigate menus. Those menus definitely have more of a computer-as-appliance feel to it than a normal desktop does. Luckily, if you're not into the extra-large icons and the simplified menu, you can always switch to a regular GNOME-style desktop.

Easy Peasy aims to require little or no additional tweaking or app installation beyond what you first get. Right out of the box, you can browse the web, organize media, watch flash video, and more. Easy Peasy includes Firefox, Pidgin, Skype, Transmission BitTorrent Client, Open Office, Banshee Media Player, Picasa, Cheese Webcam Booth, and the Open Office Suite, among other free and open-source tools.

Easy Peasy can be installed from both a disc or from a USB drive. Both methods of installation have a LiveCD component included so you can take EasyPeasy for a spin before committing to an installation.

Have a netbook OS or set of netbook tweaks to share? Let's hear about them in the comments.

Easy Peasy [via New Linux User]

Atmel maXTouch technology promises bigger, better capacitve touchscreens

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/11/atmel-maxtouch-technology-promises-bigger-better-capacitve-touc/

Atmel may still be hedging its bets by offering some resistive touchscreen devices of its own, but it looks like it isn't making any secrets about its belief that capacitive touch is where the real action is, as fully evidenced by the firm's wonderfully dramatic video announcing its new maXTouch technology. In addition to kick-starting "a whole new era" (period), the new platform promises to support the development of capacitive touchscreens larger 10 inches, complete with full support for zooming, rotating, handwriting, shape recognition and other advanced functionality. What's more, the first device in the line (the mXT224) promises to blow a few minds by supporting not just finger touch, but input from a stylus, fingernails, or even gloves. The entire line of devices also fully support unlimited, simultaneous touches, and supposedly boast a refresh rate and signal-to-noise ratio that's 66% better than its nearest competitor. Of course, there's no indication as to when we can expect to see the first products using the new touchscreens just yet, but the mXT224 model is available right now for any companies interested, and Atmel says additional models will be rolling out in the fourth quarter of this year and throughout 2010.

Read - Atmel maXTouch press release
Read- maXTouch video and product site

Filed under: Displays

Atmel maXTouch technology promises bigger, better capacitve touchscreens originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Both went viral, but only one worked (had biz impact); can you tell which? and, no, the answer is not brand engagement - http://bit.ly/AGpvi

Nokia Twist In All Its Pivoting Glory Heads to Verizon for $100 [Cellphones]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JnIALhz_BMw/nokia-twist-in-all-its-pivoting-glory-heads-to-verizon-for-100

I don't know about you, but I have always wanted to twist a phone into different positions. Er, did I say phone? Verizon's new $100 Nokia 7705 Twist won't even cost too much to do it.

Besides having a swiveling screen that opens to a full QWERTY keypad and a handy mirror on the back for checking food in your teeth, the square sized phone is pretty much your standard messaging phone though it does have a 3 megapixel camera (that can also record video). You will want to pick up a MicroSD card to store anything since it only has 256 MB of internal memory. It will pack the standard Verizon services including VZ Navigator, V CAST Music and V CAST Video. With EV-DO Rev. 0 speeds should be decent, but not blazing.

The Nokia Twist will be available this Sunday for $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract. I bet Nokla's knock off actually costs more. Apparently some of the first phones that ship will come with a "free picture frame lanyard" (thinking they meant an or in there) to raise awareness of HopeLine and domestic violence. Hit the press release for more details on that and on the phone. [Verizon, Nokia]

AMD's Eyefinity Graphics Card Drives Six 30-Inch Monitors At Once [Amd]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/SILiS3nMqCU/amds-eyefinity-graphics-card-drives-six-30+inch-monitors-at-once

Good Lord—that is badass. What you are seeing here is the product of AMD's next-gen DirectX 11 graphics cards with an Eyefinity feature that allows you to use multiple monitors as a single display.

Specifics on the technology are being kept close to the vest, but a recent demonstration revealed, amazingly, that it runs on only one GPU. it also features several DisplayPort connectors—In this case, six 30-inch Dell displays were configured to run as a single 7680x4800 monitor.

Eyefinity is enabled through a combination of hardware and software being developed by AMD. On the hardware front, AMD's upcoming Radeons will sport between 3 and 6 display outputs of various types, DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, etc. And those outputs will be managed by software currently dubbed SLS, or Single Large Surface. Using the SLS tool, users are able to configure a group of monitors to work with Eyefinity and essentially act as a single, large display.

Maximum PC witnessed XPlane 9 and Far Cry 2 running at full resolution on Eyefinity at 12-20 frames per second. HotHardware notes that an upcoming DX11 racing game, Dirt 2, was played at 7680 x 3200 with "perfectly acceptable frame rates" (although 12 fps is not what many would consider "acceptable"). They also claim that there are plans to integrate CrossFire support down the line and that AMD has partnered with manufacturers to create ultra-thin bezel displays specifically designed for use with Eyefinity. How long we will have to wait and how insanely expe! nsive al l this will be has yet to be determined. [Hot Hardware and Maximum PC]

Now Available [Now Available]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MV_OdghAaFc/now-available

JVC has been showing off some of their more ridiculously thin and expensive display designs today, and their new 3D monitor falls squarely into that same "outrageous" category.

• If you're a reeeeeaaallly early adopter, JVC has a new 46" 3D monitor out that will make sure you're ready for the arrival 3D content... assuming whatever 3D standard the industry eventually decides on is compatible with the set. The set's integrated 3D decoder can handle the current industry standard formats of line-by-line and side-by-side image processing. Whether those are the standards in three years is anyone's guess, though.

The set was originally designed for Hollywood studios, and now is available to home installers. While the 3D may be cool, the set's other characteristics won't exactly reel in the home theater enthusiasts. With specs like a 2,000:1 static contrast ratio, it's not like anyone will be ditching their Kuro for this thing. 3D images still require polarized glasses, too.

That said, JVC claims the display offers "flicker-free 3D images," because both left and right eye information is constantly displayed. While I guess it would be cool to have a 3D set, I don't think it's $9,153 (that's the exact price in the pres release, by the way) cool, especially without any content available. If you need to have a 3D set today, though, they're available now to your local home theater installer. [Press Release via Electronista]

The Best of LCD: New LED-Lit TVs From LG, Samsung and Sony Compared [Cedia 09]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/USyFj6WNX9g/the-best-of-lcd-new-led+lit-tvs-from-lg-samsung-and-sony-compared

The best LCD sets money can buy are lit up by LEDs, and these are the best LED TVs you can buy from LG, Samsung and Sony. They start at $3600.

Given the wildly varying conditions of the show floor—and the frankly crappy source video, lighting and background LG picked for its demo TV—we can't really judge which TV actually has the best picture quality right now, but the facts do tell us something:
• Samsung and LG both use local dimming on their 55 inchers, while Sony's 52-inch TV is edge-lit
• Sony and LG have expensive built-in wireless HDMI for 1080p streaming from a paired media box
• Sony and Samung have the best "other" features, like great streaming video services
• Samsung's the cheapest, at $4500 for its 55-inch set, probably because it lacks wireless
• Sony's is the most expensive, even though it's the smallest, and lacks full-array LED backlighting, like its champion precursor, the XBR8

In person, the XBR10 is gorgeous, really pulling off the floating TV look, and the Samsung 8500 sets are slick and slim. LG's 55LHX is comparatively drab and physically more clunky, as you can see in our Sizemod o:

Red = 55" LG; Purple = 52" Sony; Yellow = 55" Samsung

All in all, there's no clear winner, and there are lots and lots of trade-offs. If you really want to blow five grand on a TV, you're going to have a tough decision for now, at least until we get 'em side by side. [More CEDIA '09 coverage]

ATI Radeon Eyefinity unveiled: up to six monitors on a single card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/ati-radeon-eyefinity-unveiled-up-to-six-monitors-on-a-single-ca/

At a press event today the gang at AMD unleashed their newest graphics technology on the world. To be incorporated in the next generation of ATI Radeons, Eyefinity can rock up to six displays (DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, etc.) with a single card, thanks to a new 40-nm graphics chip that contains 2 billion transistors, capable of 2.5 trillion calculations every second. Monitors can be configured to make up either one contiguous display or six separate ones, and the card can create 268 megapixel images. That means, according to Venture Beat, that it will deliver games with "12 times the high-definition resolution." And the gang at Hot Hardware, who reports that the new graphic cards will come with either three or six display outs, put a prototype through its paces. We're pleased to report that playing Left 4 Dead on three 30-inch displays "absolutely changes the experience for the better." No word yet on a release date, but apparently Acer, Dell, HP, MSI and Toshiba already have Eyefinity notebooks in the works. We'll take two! More shots after the break.

Read - AMD introduces a graphics chip that can power six computer displays at once
Read - AMD Eyefinity Multi-Display Technology In Action

Continue reading ATI Radeon Eyefinity unveiled: up to six monitors on a single card

Filed under: Displays

ATI Radeon Eyefinity unveiled: up to six monitors on a single card originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's Congo-based 11.6-inch Ferrari One: finally, a netbook with speed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/acers-11-6-inch-ferrari-one-finally-a-netbook-with-speed/

We've seen a couple of netbooks that we'd actually consider to be mildly quick, but given that locating an Ion-based netbook is about as easy as entering North Korea with a US passport, we haven't had much of a chance to really love on 'em. Today, Acer is extending its boutique Ferrari lineup with the Ferrari One, an 11.6-inch machine that is among the first to rely on AMD's newly announced Congo platform. Packed within the chassis is a dual-core 1.2GHz Athlon X2 L310 CPU, ATI's Radeon 3200 graphics, an XPG port for connecting an external graphics solution, a 1,366 x 768 panel, WiFi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN and a 6-cell battery. You'll also notice AMD Vision and Windows 7 badges alongside the obligatory prancing pony, but you can bet you'll be paying dearly for this when it ships on (surprise, surprise) October 22nd. How dearly? Try £435 ($724), or roughly the cost of a single lug nut on an F430.

[Via TrustedReviews]

Filed under: Laptops

Acer's Congo-based 11.6-inch Ferrari One: finally, a netbook with speed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android Battle: CLIQ edition

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/android-battle-cliq-edition/

	CLIQ	Galaxy	Tattoo	Hero	Magic / MT3G	Dream / G1
Carrier	T-Mobile	-- (GSM / HSDPA)	-- (GSM / EDGE)	Sprint	T-Mobile	T-Mobile
Manuf.	Motorola	Samsung	HTC	HTC	HTC	HTC
Price	--	--	--	$179.99	$99.99	$149.99
Released	--	July 2009	--	Oct 11, 2009	Aug 5, 2009	Oct 22, 2008
Keyboard	Slide-out	Virtual	Virtual	Virtual	Virtual	Slide-out
Android	MOTOBLUR	Standard	Sense UI	Sense UI	Standard	Standard
Processor	528MHz MSM7201A	528MHz ARM11	528MHz MSM7225	528MHz MSM7201A	528MHz MSM7201A	528MHz MSM7201A
Screen	3.1-inch (est.), 320 x 480	3.2-inch, 320 x 480	2.8-inch, 240 x 320	3.2-inch, 320 x 480	3.2-inch, 320 x 480	3.2-inch, 480 x 320
Headphone	3.5mm	3.5mm	3.5mm	3.5mm	ExtUSB	ExtUSB
Touchscreen	Capacitive	Capacitive	Resistive	Capacitive	Capacitive	Capacitive
Still Camera	5MP with AF	5MP with Flash	3.2MP	5MP with AF	3.2MP with AF	3.2MP with AF
Bluetooth	2.0	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Exchange	ActiveSync	ActiveSync	--	ActiveSync	Depends on version	Depends on version
Storage	256MB, microSD	8GB, microSD	512MB, microSD	512MB, microSD	512MB, microSD	256MB, microSD
Battery	1400mAh	1500mAh	1100mAh	1500 mAh	1340 mAh	1150 mAh
Weight	163g	114g	113g	135g	116g	158g

It's been over 11 months since the Android first hit the scene with HTC's T-Mobile G1, and in that time we've come to the conclusion that, despite having more or less a clean slate on industrial design choices and specs, little progress has been made in the way of variation. Stacked up side-to-side, Motorola CLIQ manages to stand out with a slide-out keyboard and MOTOBLUR skin, but under the hood, it's pretty much as uniform as a netbook. Peruse for yourself in the chart above.

Update: We had a typo on the Hero screen size -- it's 3.2-inches, not the other way around! Stupid keyboards.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Android Battle: CLIQ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Third-party Google Voice client hits the webOS App Catalog

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/third-party-google-voice-app-hits-the-webos-app-catalog/

It looks like it isn't just bluster from Palm when it comes to thinking differently about its app approval policy. Besides taking a pretty healthy stance on applications that deviate from its current standards, today 10 new titles have shown up for download... a Google Voice app being one of them. gDial Pro, a piece of software which started its life as a homebrew application, is now an official part of the beta store. The program lets you access Google Voice's full feature set (including a dialer), and no one seems very bothered by it. Here's hoping Palm keeps up the flow of new software to the Catalog (they're eating for two now) and they keep a healthy distance from rejection letters.

[Via PreThinking]

Filed under: Cellphones

Third-party Google Voice client hits the webOS App Catalog originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: ultra-sleek ASUS UL50 laptop gets hands-on treatment

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/video-ultra-sleek-asus-ul50-laptop-gets-hands-on-treatment/

ASUS vice chairman Jonathan Tsang stated back in June that his company's goal was to "provide products that are better than Apple's," and golly gee, it looks as if the company is actually attempting to reach that bar. The UL series is undoubtedly a good looking bunch, which makes us even more excited to see a near-final UL50 show up on video. The good folks over at Mobile Computer have spent a few qualities minutes with the CULV-based machine, and they definitely dug the brushed aluminum lid, crisp display and full-size keyboard with numeric pad. But look, we're not here to spoil any surprises, so why not click on through and peek the vid yourself?

Continue reading Video: ultra-sleek ASUS UL50 laptop gets hands-on treatment

Filed under: Laptops

Video: ultra-sleek ASUS UL50 laptop gets hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG launches XD3 Slim portable HDDs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/lg-launches-xd3-slim-portable-hdds/

Brushed aluminum exterior filed down to a minimalist 13mm in thickness with rubber-padded sides for impact protection. This is not just a portable hard drive, this is an LG XD3 Slim portable hard drive. It seems like LG has decided to differentiate its products on aesthetics alone, as the XD3 has the same USB and SATA II connectivity that have been on offer since the XD1, and storage is no greater than the max 500GB on the XD2. Even so, if the Korean price of 110,000 Won ($90) for the 320GB model shows up unaltered in Western lands, we know what we'll be buying our imaginary girlfriends come Christmas.

Continue reading LG launches XD3 Slim portable HDDs

Filed under: Storage

LG launches XD3 Slim portable HDDs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Walkman S740 spied in Japan

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/11/sony-walkman-s740-spied-in-japan/

Sony has a new Walkman S-series device in the chute as demonstrated by this S740 model seen hanging out at the Sony Dealer Convention in Japan. Hard data is scarce but visually we can see a slightly tweaked industrial design with beefier earbuds and a lack of stereo speakers -- at least on the front. Otherwise, we're told that these will ship in 8GB and 16GB capacities.

Update: Looks like a few more images have leaked out -- it must be true, right? Thanks, Glenn!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Sony Walkman S740 spied in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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