Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, August 16, 2010

Epic 4G review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/epic-4g-review/

Of the seemingly countless variants of the Galaxy S that Samsung's in the process of deploying around the globe, one stands out in a couple very unique (and important) ways: Sprint's Epic 4G. The Epic hangs on to a couple of the Galaxy line's most important characteristics -- namely the 1GHz Hummingbird processor and the 4-inch Super AMOLED display -- but adds in a sliding landscape QWERTY keyboard, support for the wickedly fast WiMAX network that Sprint shares with partner Clearwire, and a handful of other notable one-off customizations.

We've already taken a look at two of the other US-bound Galaxy S models -- AT&T's Captivate and T-Mobile's Vibrant -- but it shouldn't take more than a quick glance at the Epic to tell you that this is a very, very different beast. Becoming just the second WiMAX phone released in the States (and the first with a physical keyboard), this is a pretty critical release for Sprint at a time when its subscriber count is just starting to pick up after several quarters of decline -- and making things even more interesting is the fact that Sprint's first WiMAX handset -- HTC's EVO 4G -- is simply one of the best phones we've ever reviewed. In other words, yeah, you could say that the Epic's got a lot to live up to. Is it up to the task? Let's find out.

Gallery: Epic 4G review

Continue reading Epic 4G review

Epic 4G review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Exilim golf-friendly digicam hitting Japan; the Pro from Dazaifu never had it so good

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/new-exilim-golf-friendly-digicam-hitting-japan-the-pro-from-daz/

Golf fanatics will stop at nothing in pursuit of upping their game, and as you know, all sorts of gadgets have been modified to suit their purposes, from PNDs to digicams. Apparently Casio's Exilim line has been a favorite, and now its golf-centric camera is getting something of a spec bump. The Exilim EX-FC160S sports a 10 megapixel backside illuminated sensor, 5x optical zoom at 37mm, and support for 240fps video with an optional 30fps slow-motion playback. Available in Japan come August 27, in a limited production run of 5,000 units.

New Exilim golf-friendly digicam hitting Japan; the Pro from Dazaifu never had it so good originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI's 10-inch WindPad 100 advances past prototype stage, gets pictured with a dock

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/msis-10-inch-windpad-100-advances-past-prototype-stage-gets-pi/

The wait for a legitimate mass market Windows 7 tablet continues, but at least MSI is showing signs of progress. The WindPad 100, which we saw at Computex in prototype form, has now reached design maturity and the concordant gallery of pictures has been distributed to the world. There's no word of any spec changes, meaning we're still looking at a 1.66GHz Atom Z530 CPU, 32GB SSD, 2GB RAM, Wind Touch UI overlay, and HDMI plus 2x USB ports on the stat sheet. The 100 has been joined by a new dock in these latest images, which will throw in the typical expanded connectivity options. We can probably expect to see both reappearing at IFA in Berlin in about a month's time.

Gallery: MSI WindPad 100 press shots

MSI's 10-inch WindPad 100 advances past prototype stage, gets pictured with a dock originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SNAP for iOS gives you The Power... to appraise your Facebook privacy

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/snap-for-ios-gives-you-the-power-to-appraise-your-facebook-pr/

SNAP (Social Network Analyzer for Privacy) by BIT Systems does one thing, and one thing only: it looks at your Facebook profile and then "grades you on how visible you are to the outside world." Of course, you can always just go into Facebook itself and look at your privacy settings, which would save you the steps of downloading an app and using it to login to your account, but at least the thing is free. And it does provide a handy and thorough tutorial on Facebook privacy in general. Hit the source link to take it for a spin.

Continue reading SNAP for iOS gives you The Power... to appraise your Facebook privacy

SNAP for iOS gives you The Power... to appraise your Facebook privacy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday, August 13, 2010

DIY Tilt-Shift Photography Guide Makes DIY Lens Selection Simple [Tilt-Shift Photography]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5611848/diy-tilt+shift-photography-guide-makes-diy-lens-selection-simple

DIY Tilt-Shift Photography Guide Makes DIY Lens Selection Simple Tilt-shift photography alters the focal plane of your camera lens and yields some really interesting pictures in the process. Learn about tilt-shift photography and get started with a comparison guide to DIY tilt-shift lenses with this handy guide.

If you're not sure where to start with tilt-shift photography Bhautik Joshi's thorough guide is an excellent starting point. Spanning six sections, the guide covers the science behind tilt-shift photography, DIY models and the strengths of each, information about economical commercial tilt-shift lenses, and more.

Visit the link below to check out the guide or take a peek at photos flagged as tilt-shift on Flickr to get an idea of what you can achieve with a tilt-shift lens.

Like the look of tilt-shift photography but don't have a camera you can attach a DIY lens to? Try out previously reviewed TiltShift and TiltShitMaker to try your hand at faking tilt-shift photos. Have a favorite photography-related DIY project to share? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Tilt-Shift: A DIY Guide [via Hack A Day]

Who Will Watch the Watchmen? More Watchmen! [Street View]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5612186/who-will-watch-the-watchmen-more-watchmen

Who Will Watch the Watchmen? More Watchmen! A few things to be concerned with here: first, Google Street View has gone meta. Second, apparently those vans travel in packs. Third, the universe just collapsed in on itself, the end. [Google via Reddit]

3DTV Still Not Big in Japan [3dTv]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5612007/3dtv-still-not-that-popular-in-japan

3DTV Still Not Big in Japan The land of the rising sun may be the world's fastest-adopter of new formats, but a year on, how are 3DTV sales doing in Japan? The Nikkei examined the situation, and unsurprisingly 3DTV still has a long way to go.

While prices have fallen by 20 per cent for Panasonic and Sony's 3DTV models, they're still up to 50 per cent higher than non-3D sets, which could account for the fact that only 2.6 per cent of 40" or larger TVs sold in Japan between 2nd - 8th August were 3D-enabled.

Nonetheless, we're constantly being bombarded by stats from manufacturers claiming forecasts of millions upon millions of 3DTV shipments in the coming year. Perhaps the James Cameron-directed Black Eyed Peas documentary will change people's minds. (Heh). [The Nikkei via CrunchGear]

Intel's Core i7-970 gets reviewed: great for overclocking, still expensive

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/12/intels-core-i7-970-gets-reviewed-great-for-overclocking-still/

It may be a cheaper way to join the high-end Core i7 family, but that doesn't mean it's "cheap." Intel's Core i7-970 ($899), which just started shipping to consumers around a month ago, has just undergone a thorough looking-over at Hot Hardware, where the six-core chip was tested alongside its more potent (and in turn, more costly) siblings. If you've no interest in dropping over a grand for a Core i7-980X, and you aren't about to lower yourself by purchasing a quad-core Core i7-975, this here chip might just do you proud. In testing, critics found the 970 to be quick, but hardly mind-blowing, when handling more mundane tasks; stir in a few heavily threaded applications, though, and it managed to "sail past" the quad-core contemporaries and "keep pace" with the aforementioned 980X. All told, the silicon managed to perform around 5 percent worse than the 980X, yet it rings up for around 12 percent less. If you've got the workflow to truly take advantage of all six cores, and you can stomach not having the absolute best, it seems as if the 970 strikes a fine balance -- and hey, if you're down with overclocking, you can probably get that 5 percent back with just a mild uptick in your energy bill.

Intel's Core i7-970 gets reviewed: great for overclocking, still expensive originally! appeare d on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chrome to Phone now available in Android Market

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/12/chrome-to-phone-now-available-to-all-android-froyo-users/

Chrome to Phone isn't a new product -- we've been using it since May, in fact -- but Google's second mobile announcement today (behind Voice Actions) is that its continuous client app is now "official" and available to all users (with Android 2.2 Froyo) via Android Market. As it was before, websites can be pushed from the Chrome browser to your Android device, with certain apps (Maps, YouTube) taking over for the browser when contextually appropriate. Additionally, the code is open, which we're hoping means this Chrome extension will find its way to other browsers. The team is "looking into" bringing the capabilities to other mobile OSs (the iPhone was specifically asked), but don't get your hopes up: nothing's been submitted, and we didn't get the feeling it was an active push. Incredibly useful? Yes, yes indeed.

Chrome to Phone now available in Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Thunder spied again, still looking awesome

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/12/dell-thunder-spied-again-still-looking-awesome/

Looks like the faucet's starting to turn wide open on Thunder leaks, seeing how this would be the second we've seen in a single day -- and we suppose you could even count this one twice since the source appears to have two units at his disposal. AndroidSPIN doesn't have any new details to report with this round of shots, but needless to say, talk of a 4.1-inch AMOLED display looks as real as ever, and it looks like all of these test units are running stock Android 2.1. Sadly, considering how long the Mini 5 / Streak was in the leak pipeline prior to release, we can't promise that we're going to see a retail launch on this one any time soon -- but it certainly gives you pause before pulling the trigger on an AT&T-locked version of the Streak now, doesn't it?

Dell Thunder spied again, still looking awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid 2 ripped to shreds, where's an astromech when you need one?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/12/motorola-droid-2-ripped-to-shreds-wheres-an-astromech-when-you/

It's been less than a full day since Verizon's Droid 2 hit shelves (or two, if you count Sam's Club) but the fine folks at iFixit have already managed to make their phone explode into... 24 pieces, if we're counting right. Amazingly enough, the internal construction is almost exactly the same despite Motorola's near-doubling of the horsepower (and addition of 802.11n) inside. You'll find a nigh-identical logic board, speaker, camera and LCD screen -- not to mention the exact same battery, which means original Droid owners will have a handy swap -- and what looks like the exact same steps (but Torx screwdrivers required) to take the clever puzzle of plastic and metal apart. Not that you'd necessarily want to do the same to your new handset -- It's days like this we're glad iFixit is here to take that bullet for us.

Motorola Droid 2 ripped to shreds, where's an astromech when you need one? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Axon Logic's Haptic tablet can run a desktop's OS, has a desktop's price

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/13/axon-logics-haptic-tablet-can-run-a-desktops-os-has-a-deskto/

Half a year ago, you'd have been forgiven for expecting that today both Windows 7 and Mac OS X would have flagship tablets representing them, in the shape of the HP Slate and the Apple iPad. Alas, one of those devices ran away to enterprise land and the other opted for a mobile OS. It's against this backdrop of disappointment that Axon's Haptic tablet enters, with confirmation that its Atom-based innards are fully compatible with Linux, Windows and Mac operating environments. With a 10.1-inch resistive touchscreen, 320GB HDD, 2GB of RAM, and a trio of USB ports, it's another of those devices you could classify as a keyboard-less netbook, but at least its OS versatility will give it a leg up. Then again, with a pre-order price of $750 and no bundled OS licenses, we suspect it might need a little more than that to succeed where so many have failed.

Axon Logic's Haptic tablet can run a desktop's OS, has a desktop's price originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 reviewed: the best megazoom shooter your dough can buy

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/13/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz100-reviewed-the-best-megazoom-shooter-yo/

Panasonic and superzoom cameras go together like... well, like any two things that are undoubtedly meant to be together. The company has a history of outdoing itself time and time again when it comes to enlarged point-and-shoots with atypically long zooms, and the all-new DMC-FX100 is most certainly not bucking the trend. Announced just a few weeks back, this here Lumix carries a 24x optical zoom, 11fps burst mode, 1080p movie recording and a 14 megapixel sensor. The gurus over at PhotographyBLOG have been testing its every feature for the past few days, and they drew some rather positive conclusions. Confessing that the FZ38 was a hard act to follow, they still felt that the FZ100 managed to top even that, with the only real (expected) knock being the noise that made itself too evident once you pushed beyond the ISO 400 mark. They also felt that the $499.95 asking price was a bit on the high side, but now that Panny's building somewhat of a reputation in this space, we guess it's entitled to try and take advantage. Hit the source link for the fully skinny, but don't even bother if you're hoping for someone to talk you out of pulling the trigger.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 reviewed: the best megazoom shooter your dough can buy originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 0! 6:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS prices 10-inch Android Eee Pad under $399, 8-inch Eee Tablet at $300, other tablets too

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/13/asus-prices-10-inch-android-eee-pad-under-399-8-inch-eee-table/

ASUS prices 8-inch Eee Tablet under $300, 10-inch Android Eee Pad at $399, other tablets too

ASUS just dumped Windows Embedded Compact 7 for Android for its lower-end tablet devices, and CEO Jerry Shen is passing along the savings. He's pledging that the 10-inch Eee Pad EP101TC, due to ship in March, will cost under $399 -- and if the Notion Ink Adam is any indication that means it'll be $398. Then there's the EP121, a 12-inch tablet running Windows 7 that's positioned rather higher up in the market, as indicated by its $1,000 price tag. Shen says this high cost is due to that docking station able to intriguingly transform it into a laptop when it ships around December or January. Next is yet another Eee Pad due around January, one that will run Windows Embedded Compact 7 on a 10-inch screen and at a price somewhere south of $499. Finally, there's the grayscale Eee Tablet e-reader thing, formerly rumored to be under $599 but now priced at a solid $300 and, supposedly, shipping in October. Surely we're mere months away from tablet saturation at this point.

ASUS prices 10-inch Android Eee Pad under $399, 8-inch Eee Tablet at $300, other tablets too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Calculate the Perfect Handbrake Video Encoding Settings for Your Device [Video Conversion]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5610568/calculate-the-perfect-handbrake-video-encoding-settings-for-your-device

Calculate the Perfect Handbrake Video Encoding Settings for Your Device Handbrake is an amazing tool for ripping your DVDs and converting your video files, but figuring out the right settings can be a challenge. Let our Handbrake Video Bitrate calculator do the work for you.

With just a little input on your part, the calculator will provide you with a video bitrate to use. Before you get started, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

Quality definitely differs between low, medium and high but low isn't going to make your video look like crap either. All your options are designed to be watch-able, but the bigger the screen the higher you'll want to set the quality. When in doubt, Medium is always a good choice.
If you're just encoding for your computer, just go for it. If you're encoding for your mobile device, be sure to check its encoding specifications (for example, here are specs for the iPhone). While this calculator aims to stay within the bounds of mobile devices (at least at the "Low" quality setting), it's possible it may exceed your device's capabilities. It's always best to double-check before putting in the time to encode a long movie.
The reason this calculator only handles video is because audio bitrate is going to be restricted by your device. For example, Apple devices should always encode stereo audio at 160kbps. A sampling rate of 48Khz is what you're going to want to use in almost every case. If you don't have any device restrictions, we recommend 256kbps for stereo audio. Feel free to choose whatever you'd like, but as a reference point you should know that most of the music you buy online is encoded at 192kbps.

Okay, that's all, have fun!

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