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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Nokia puts Booklet 3G netbook up for pre-order... in Italy

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/12/nokia-puts-booklet-3g-netbook-up-for-pre-order-in-italy/

So, we've got some good news and bad news. The good news is that Nokia's already offering up its Booklet 3G netbook for pre-order over in Italy, which is becoming an all-too-familiar scene for Nokia wares. The bad news is that the posted price is, um, absurd. During a keynote at Nokia World 09, listeners were told that the Windows 7-powered machine would ring up at "just" €570, yet Nokia's own Italian e-store has it listed for €699. That's just over a grand in Greenbacks, though we get the feeling it'll be selling for substantially less once the feel-good emotions fade and cold, hard economics take their toll.

Update: As pointed out in the comments, the announced €570 price was likely pre-tax and pre-carrier subsidy as is typical for Nokia's European announcements. The €699 price is thus VAT inclusive.

[Via I4U News]

Filed under: Laptops

Nokia puts Booklet 3G netbook up for pre-order... in Italy originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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M-Audio and Digidesign team up for $99 Pro Tools, hardware bundles

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/12/m-audio-and-digidesign-team-up-for-99-pro-tools-hardware-bundl/

It's probably safe to assume that most of the Grammy Award-winning readers of Engadget (hi, Evanescence!) already have expansive -- and expensive -- recording studios in their Bel Aire mansions. For the rest of us, however, the fruits of Avid's acquisition of M-Audio is beginning to pay off in the form of inexpensive Pro Tools bundles that see the digital audio workstation paired with entry-level recording gear. Right now, we have three Pro Tools Essentials packages for you, including: the Pro Tools Vocal Studio USB condenser mic (includes a stand and a case for $99), the Pro Tools Recording Studio comes with a Fast Track 2-in / 2-out USB audio interface with mic / line / instrument inputs ($129), and finally Pro Tools KeyStudio 49-key MIDI keyboard (bundled with M-Audio USB Micro soundcard for $99). Of course, for prices this low you can't expect the full-blown ProTools treatment, but even the streamlined version here should be sufficient for most would-be Johnny Marrs: 5 GB of instruments and loops, 60 virtual instrument sounds, and the usual reverb / chorus / delay / flanger / phaser / compression / EQ effects. To be released mid-September, but in the meantime check out the hardware in the gallery below.

Gallery: M-Audio and Digidesign team up for $99 Pro Tools + instrument bundles

090911-protools-g01

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Peripherals

M-Audio and Digidesign team up for $99 Pro Tools, hardware bundles originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday, September 11, 2009

Optoma Pico PK102 Projector Bragging It's World's Smallest [Projectors]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/2SRL6smpXrk/optoma-pico-pk102-projector-bragging-its-worlds-smallest

Lucky for projectors being the smallest is a good thing. Optoma says its newest 4x2 inch PK102 actually is. An upgrade to its Optoma PK101, it is now thinner but managed to squeeze in 4GB of storage.

Besides now being able to hold pictures and video, the Pico PK102 also now has a new universal port capable of receiving VGA and component video. This should make connecting it to a laptop easier and the component port will let you hook it up to your iPod or portable gaming device with the bundled cords. Other than that there aren't any substantial updates — it still got the same 480 x 320 native resolution and a DLP engine as the PK101.

The Pico PK102 is now available for $250 (which is significantly less than the $450 that the PK101 hit the market at and its 3M MPro120 competitor). The now slightly chunkier PK101 has been lowered to $230. [Optoma PR via Engadget]

Dropbox Adds Search and Bulk Operations to Web Site [Syncing]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/lfG_Evn64Gw/dropbox-adds-search-and-bulk-operations-to-web-site

Grabbing Dropbox files from a web browser got a bit easier overnight, as the file synchronizing service added search, bulk operations for separate items, Gmail-style keyboard shortcuts, and a mobile interface for non-iPhone browsers to its web site.

The site as a whole got a visual overhaul, actually, but what established Dropbox users are going to most appreciate is the ability to create new ZIP-ed packages of different files—a few files, one or two folders, and maybe that picture, all at once—and grab them. The Dropbox team also added a search bar and "Gmail-style keyboard shortcuts," ~~although we haven't seen a guide to those shortcuts as of yet.~~

Update: Reader Samuel points out that keyboard shortcuts are something you have to enable from the "Other Preferences" section of your Account settings on Dropbox's web site. Once you do, hitting "?" brings up the shortcut list you see here. Very Gmail-like indeed.

The non-iPhone mobile version, assuming I'm seeing it on my Android model, works fairly well, providing quick access to files and recent changes. We're still waiting on a dedicated iPhone app—submitted for Apple's approval about four weeks ago—but these changes, mobile and otherwise, are a nice step forward for grabbing files when you're at a non-synced computer or on your mobile device.

How It's Made: The Dropbox Web [The Dropbox Blog via TechCrunch]

TxtNinja Stashes Your Text Inside Images [Security]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/cz11LOlhHXo/txtninja-stashes-your-text-inside-images

Have something you want other people to read but not spam bots and search-engine crawlers? TxtNinja will turn your plain text into an image to keep the bots at bay.

Why might you want to forgo plain text? One of the more popular reasons is to mask your email to keep spam bots from sucking it up as they scan web pages. Leaving your email@someprovider.com in the open makes it ripe for picking. TxtNinja allows you to turn that plain text into:

The result is an image file which is human friendly but not machine readable.

TxtNinja allows you to change the font, font size, color, background, and supports international character sets for a dozen non-English languages.

TxtNinja [via MakeUseOf]

An Enlightening Look at Digital Distractions [Distractions]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/yMRqA2jCtLs/an-enlightening-look-at-digital-distractions

David McCandless, crafter of the buzz vs. bulge caffeine/calories axis we dug, examined his work days and found a kind of protocol for what was likely to pull him away from actual work. It's both smile inducing and thought provoking.

You'll chuckle once or twice reading through McCandless' examination of how certain things (hot strangers following on Twitter) are more likely to grab his attention than others (a Google AdSense summary). Then, possibly, you'll think about your own day and how certain things are absolutely irresistible, no matter how many times you tell your co-workers that you're in "crunch mode" or "keeping my head down." The idea that "device failure" is the ace attention-getter certainly holds true at Lifehacker East.

If you had to re-map the Hierarchy of Digital Distractions for your own life, what would take up the top few pyramid spots? Tell us your take in the comments, and seek therapy in our top 10 distraction stoppers.

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions [Information Is Beautiful via Digital Inspiration]

Twistory Backs Up Your Tweets to a Calendar Feed [Backup Utilities]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/L8ZKwiRFQrE/twistory-backs-up-your-tweets-to-a-calendar-feed

Twistory is yet another free tool to back up online accounts, specifically Twitter posts. It goes beyond a simple data dump, though, by plotting your tweets in an easy-to-import iCal feed.

Twistory is really simple to use, and doesn't require authentication. Just feed it your Twitter username—or any Twitter name, really—and it kicks back an iCal feed link that you can push into iCal, Google Calendar, or any calendar app that accepts the .ics format. Start using it with Google Calendar before you reach Twitter's 3,200 tweet backup limit, and you'll have a search-ready, exportable database of your tweets.

Twistory is a free service, doesn't require a sign-up to use. Calendar geeks, feel free to share any neat hacks you can pull off with tweets in an iCal feed in the comments.

Twistory [via The Steve Rubel Lifestream]

Hackintosh Upgrades Without Problems to 10.6.1 [Updates]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/t8uY-TMo-zs/hackintosh-upgrades-without-problems-to-1061

If you happened to follow along with my guide to building a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, you may be curious as to whether you need to do anything special to upgrade to yesterday's Snow Leopard 10.6.1 release. In short: You don't. Just upgrade like normal; your Hackintosh should handle it like a charm. (Mine did.)

If you were intrigued by the guide but were a little intimidated by all the command-line work, stick around—next week, I'll show you how to install Snow Leopard on my Hackintosh build without any of that tedious command-line hacking.

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]

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