Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Zotac's ZBOX HD-ID11 has NVIDIA Ion 2 and Atom D510 to thank for excellent media playback (updated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/zotacs-zbox-hd-id11-has-nvidia-ion-2-and-atom-d510-to-thank-for/

Like gaming? Move right along to the iBuyPower booth, please. Want an unobtrusive PC that will feed your Hulu and YouTube HD streaming addiction? Say hello to the ZBOX HD-ID11. It's basically a desktop version of the same Ion 2 setups you saw announced on the mobile front yesterday, and as such should provide flawless Flash 10.1 playback while occupying an extremely lean footprint on your desktop. Zotac has matched MSI's Wind Box DE220 with its inclusion of a dual-core 1.66GHz Atom D510 CPU, though it obviously differs with its NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics subsystem that includes 512MB of dedicated DDR3 memory. HDMI 1.3a and standard VESA wall-mounting are expected extras, with six USB ports, integrated 802.11n WiFi, dual-link DVI, and a 6-in-1 media card reader covering the rest of your bases. Check out some 1080p playback on a similarly specced system right here while you wait for pricing and availability to be revealed.

Update: We've heard directly from Zotac on the matter of pricing and we're told that the American MSRP will be $209.99 for the barebones edition, which will require you to add your own hard drive, memory and OS.

Zotac's ZBOX HD-ID11 has NVIDIA Ion 2 and Atom D510 to thank for excellent media playback (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coby $85 smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/coby-85-smartbook-feels-like-a-hundred-bucks-hands-on/

Funny how our tune on smartbooks totally changes when one's got an $85 price tag. We happened upon Coby's booth at CeBIT this morning and of all the fairly cheap feeling laptops the company had on display it was its 7-inch NBPC722 smartbook that cozied right up to us. Okay, so it isn't as thin or attractive as the $499 Lenovo's Skylight, but again let us remind you that it costs about as much as a couple of new printer ink cartridges. Inside the little guy packs a 624MHz Marvell PXA303 processor, 2GB of flash storage and runs Windows CE which all should be good enough for some light Web browsing and e-mail writing. There was actually a YouTube shortcut on the desktop, but the NBPC722 wasn't connected to try it out. Apparently this inexpensive laptop should be making its way stateside this spring, but until the flowers start blooming you've got the video below.

Gallery: Coby NBPC722 smartbook

Continue reading Coby $85 smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on)

Coby $85 smartbook feels like a hundred bucks (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Aspire One 532G with ION 2 priced at an aggressive 379 euros

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/acer-aspire-one-532g-with-ion-2-priced-at-an-aggressive-379-euro/

Now that's how to get our attention. While the English-speaking portion of the Acer press conference left much to be desired, the second half, decidedly more German in vernacular, had a couple great tidbits. Most notable is a price of Acer's AspireOne 532G, the ION 2-equipped netbook initially espied at Mobile World Congress. The slide says it all, sort of: 379 euros -- mighty aggressive, and if history tells us anything, there's a good chance it'll be about $379 when it comes stateside, too. No word on release date as far as we can tell, but you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for this one.

Acer Aspire One 532G with ION 2 priced at an aggressive 379 euros originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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USB-IF certifies 50 SuperSpeed USB products, leaves five shrouded in mystery

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/usb-if-certifies-50-superspeed-usb-products-leaves-five-shroude/

That 80-port hub you bought to increase your military might? Obsolete. Novelty thumb drives? Their days are numbered as the USB-IF announces the completion of SuperSpeed USB (3.0) compliance on 50 devices. Yes, of all the countless, teeming masses of USB 2.0-compliant whatsits out there, a whole 50 3.0 devices currently officially exist, ranging from PCIe adapters to... well... ExpressCard adapters. Yes, there are a few legitimate devices in there, like HP's Envy 15 laptop and WD's My Book 3.0 external hard drive, but that the vast majority are adapters says a lot about how early this format is. Of the 50 said to be certified only 45 are listed on the site, meaning there are five left unidentified, ready for a stunning, blue-plugged unveiling. It'll surely be a magical event.

USB-IF certifies 50 SuperSpeed USB products, leaves five shrouded in mystery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on, priced for 599 euros

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/acer-aspire-1820pt-convertible-hands-on-priced-for-599-euros/

Craftily unhidden at the tail end of its press conference, Acer's long-awaited Aspire 1820PT convertible laptop has finally passed into our hands for ever the briefest of moments. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Strong hinge, accelerometer for tablet mode, capacitive multitouch, and the ability to use stylus for input (protected in a slot just below and to the right of the screen when not in use). Beyond that, seems like the typical underpowered laptop you know and love -- well, maybe not love, but you get the idea. Under the hood there's an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB RAM, and 320GB HDD, all priced at 599 euro, which we'd venture a guess to mean it'll be about $599 when it comes to the US (actual release date MIA). Gallery below, and brief video demonstration after the break.

Gallery: Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on

Continue reading Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on, priced for 599 euros

Acer Aspire 1820PT convertible hands-on, priced for 599 euros originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WD's first SiliconEdge Blue SSD launches, gets reviewed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/wds-first-siliconedge-blue-ssd-launches-gets-reviewed/

Remember when Western Digital picked up SiliconSystems for a song during the height of last decade's Great Recession? Here we are a year later looking at the first fruit of that relationship, as WD has just introduced its first consumer-oriented solid state drive in the SiliconEdge Blue and its enterprise-ready SiliconDrive N1x. Both 2.5-inch families feature a native SATA 3.0Gbps interface along with read speeds as high as 240 - 250MB/sec and write rates peaking at around 140 - 150MB/sec, and the former has already hit the test bench on a number of occasions. For those considering the upgrade, you should probably dive into those links below -- most everyone came away feeling that the SiliconEdge Blue was a wee bit underwhelming for the price, with Hot Hardware noting that the "Micron C300 and Intel X25-M were measurably faster overall," and the lofty MSRP just left 'em looking for more. Here's hoping for a price drop and / or a SiliconEdge Black, eh?

WD's first SiliconEdge Blue SSD launches, gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NatGeo Downloader 2.0 Grabs Over 5,000 Wallpaper-Worthy Photos [Updates]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/4T_Uq-lAFLk/natgeo-downloader-20-grabs-over-5000-wallpaper+worthy-photos

NatGeo Downloader 2.0 Grabs Over 5,000 Wallpaper-Worthy Photos Windows: National Geographic's web site has some stunning photography, and a lot of it makes for good rotating desktop backgrounds. The NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader we've previously enjoyed has updated with interface improvments, bug fixes, and access to thousands more images.

The app's developer writes that while his first release of the app made it convenient to grab a few hundred of National Geographic's photography contest images, this 2.0 version broadens your access to more than 5,000 images. Future versions should expand the range even further. It's a Windows-only app, but Linux and Mac users with some command line savvy can still get in on the NatGeo action.

NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader is a free download for Window systems.

NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader [Novazi]

NVIDIA's Optimus technology shows its graphics switching adroitness on video

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/nvidias-optimus-technology-shows-its-graphics-switching-adroitn/

Explaining automatic graphics switching and the benefits thereof can be a somewhat dry affair. You have to tell people about usability improvements and battery life savings and whatnot... it's much more fun if you just take a nice big engineering board, strap the discrete GPU on its own card and insert an LED light for the viewer to follow. NVIDIA has done just that with its Optimus technology -- coming to a laptop or Ion 2-equipped netbook near you -- and topped it off by actually pulling out the GPU card when it wasn't active, then reinserting it and carrying on with its use as if nothing had happened. This was done to illustrate the fact that Optimus shuts down the GPU electrically, which is that little bit more energy efficient than dropping it into an idle state. Shimmy past the break to see the video.

Continue reading NVIDIA's Optimus technology shows its graphics switching adroitness on video

NVIDIA's Optimus technology shows its graphics switching adroitness on video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Manage Passwords In Any Browser And On Any OS [Security]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Hye9s6FhngI/how-to-manage-passwords-in-any-browser-and-on-any-os

I want a universal password manager—something that can work with any browser and any OS—and I want it to be simple, secure, and completely dummy-proof. Turns out that such a thing actually exists. Meet LastPass.

Lifehacker's Kevin has a great guide to how LastPass works and how you can get the most out of it, but here's one of the most important things to keep in mind:

[T]he only thing stored on LastPass' servers is a heavily encrypted bundle of your passwords and the sites they belong to-a form of host-proof hosting. They don't have the encryption key to your passwords (only you do), and the encryption and decrypting all takes place on your own computer, where a backup copy of LastPass' records is always kept. If LastPass became evil, or got hacked, the nefarious doers would have to buy one of Google's server farms to break into its users' passwords.

Sold? I am and will be giving LastPass a shot. You can read all about the password manager's features such as browser extensions, one-time passwords, bookmarklets, secure notes, and mobile app compatibility over at Lifehacker. [Lifehacker]

Backpack Power Plant: You ARE the Grid [Energy]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OiMI8nEl6pA/backpack-power-plant-you-are-the-grid

Bourne Energy's BPP-2 puts a 30-pound, 500-watt generating hydroelectric plant on your back. That's like being able to walk around with 60 solar panels. And when civilization finally collapses, I'll be dragging mine to an as yet undisclosed location.

You can use the Backpack Power Plant in any stream deeper than four feet. It also operates silently, with no heat or exhaust emissions, and can be "bottom-mounted" for total invisibility: all good things for hiding from the roving hordes of the post-apocalyptic dystopia. The set-up is pretty straightforward as well:

To install the civilian BPP, you would dig two trenches on opposite sides of a river and insert a lightweight anchor into each. Then, you'd run a synthetic rope between the anchors and the BPP. [The] company designed the system to work like the high-tension mooring systems that hold up floating oil rigs.

There's a military version already in use that can operate in a variety of flow rates, but the $3,000 civilian edition is designed for streams moving 7.5 feet per second. The main target audience is developing countries, where a portable generator of this magnitude could make a huge difference for remote villages and towns.

It's a prototype for now, but you and I both know they've got a hard deadline of 2012 if they really want this thing put to good use. [Wired]

Layar, the iPhone's Best App, Is Back In the App Store [IPhone Apps]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/HNMteqRFbO0/layar-the-iphones-best-app-is-back-in-the-app-store

After it was pulled in December due to some bugs, Layar is back in the App Store, available for iPhone 3GS users. [Layar via Mobile-Ent]

ASUS DR-900 e-reader hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/02/asus-dr-900-e-reader-hands-on/

After weeks of hearing about the DR-900 (or DR-950) e-reader, you had to know that we'd sprint (okay, walk at a brisk pace) over to ASUS' booth to finally handle the touchscreen device in person. The 9-inch ebook reader was quite light in hand, and though we didn't have Amazon's Kindle DX with us, it appeared very comparable in size. As far as the reading experience goes, the preloaded text-based PDFs looked crisp on the 1024 x 768 display and as per usual the e-ink display took about a second or two to refresh. Unfortunately, here's where we tell you that the former touch experience was less than stellar -- we had to press quite hard to select the homescreen icons and light finger taps didn't register when we tried to type "engadget" into the address bar. We got the hang of having to press firmly, but we're happy there are the up and down arrows on the right edge for alternate navigation. Perhaps it will all be fixed up once it heads into production, though we don't have details on when that will be. What we do know is that there's a just lovely hands-on video for you after the break.

Gallery: ASUS DR-900 e-reader hands-on

Continue reading ASUS DR-900 e-reader hands-on

ASUS DR-900 e-reader hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smartbook's laptops hands-on: a MacBook and a VAIO walk into a bar...

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/02/smartbooks-laptops-hands-on-a-macbook-and-a-vaio-walk-into-a-b/

Bewildering. We're pretty sure that's the only way to describe our adventure at Smartbook's CeBIT booth. First off, let us just clear up that there are absolutely no smartbooks on display -- don't forget that this is the company that's going after Qualcomm's jugular for using the term smartbook in the first place. Now that that's out of the way, the German outfit introduced two new 11.6-inch laptops at the show, both which are clearly a rip on Apple and Sony laptops. What's confusing there? Well, the fact that they are actually nice. First you have the Atom N280-powered Razor that's clad in a brushed aluminum that feels impeccably similar to the unibody MacBook. Sure, it will run like a last-generation Windows 7 netbook, but it felt seriously solid in hand. Next up is that ULV-packing Logo we told you about last week, and with a glowing power button embedded in its circular hinge there's no doubt that it was Sony VAIO "inspired." Again, the make is actually quite good, and we were shocked to feel how sturdy the chiclet keyboard was. Both ~~KIRFs~~ the Smartbook Logo and Razor should go for about 699 Euros when they become available in Europe this spring. Not amused yet? The pictures of the Swarovski covered netbook below should just about do it -- and we have video proof after the break, if you're into that sort of thing.

Gallery: Smartbook Logo netbook hands-on