Monday, September 20, 2010

Napster app arrives on iOS, completes the circle of life

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/20/napster-app-arrives-on-ios-completes-the-circle-of-life/

Before the iPhone, the iPod, and iTunes, there was Napster. The original gangster of digital music distribution has undergone many changes since its heyday as a pirate's Shangri-La, though this latest one seems to be the most fitting. A new app for the aforementioned iOS devices as well as the iPad has been launched, giving you the full Napster experience in a more portable form factor. That means that for $10 a month you can stream and cache music from a library of 10 million songs -- yes, offline listening is available too -- essentially turning your iDevice into the Apple equivalent of a Zune Pass-equipped music station. Good times ahead, eh sailor?

[Thanks, Louis Choi]

Napster app arrives on iOS, completes the circle of life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PYNK smart system could make those Kodak print kiosks useful (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/20/pynk-smart-system-finally-makes-those-kodak-print-kiosks-useful/

Just because film is dead doesn't mean that companies are at a loss for schemes to profit in the digital age. Take Kodak's PYNK smart print system as the perfect case study. Consumers buy PYNK branded photo frames and mats at $15 and $4 a pop, respectively. They then scan the goods into one of Kodak's 100,000 imaging kiosks and the machine will print photos (at further cost) into a perfectly cropped, sized, and aligned collage suitable for framing. A pretty smart solution for craft-less dummies like us.

Continue reading PYNK smart system could make those Kodak print kiosks useful (video)

PYNK smart system could make those Kodak print kiosks useful (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casio debuts Exilim EX-H20G (with Hybrid GPS) and EX-Z16 point-and-shoots

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/20/casio-debuts-exilim-ex-h20g-with-hybrid-gps-and-ex-z16-point-a/

Photokina's kicking off in earnest today with a serious bang in the point-and-shoot realm; Casio just introduced the planet's first camera with Hybrid GPS, which essentially enables it to geotag photos and videos where traditional cameras cannot. Yeah, indoors. The Exilim EX-H20G (shown above) also packs a 14.1 megapixel sensor, SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card slot, a 10x optical zoomer, an ISO range of 80 to 3200, 3-inch rear LCD, CCD-shift image stabilization, 720p movie mode and an HDMI output. Moreover, the company has throw in a world atlas with detailed maps of 140 cities around the world, and the rear screen can actually display a user's current position on said map for kicks and giggles. It'll hit shops this November for $349.99.

If that's a bit too fanciful for you, the lower-end EX-Z16 might just fit the bill. Boasting a 2.7-inch rear LCD, VGA (640 x 480) movie mode, a 12.1 megapixel sensor, SD / SDHC card slot, a whopping 14.9MB of internal storage (um... okay?), CCD-shift image stabilization and an integrated YouTube capture mode, this dead-simple cam is designed to be about as hands-off as they come. According to the company, the only settings you have to adjust on the 2.7-inch panel are image size, flash and self timer -- everything else sets itself accordingly. 'Course, that won't sit well with the tinkerers in the group, but you can sure brighten a newbie's day by gifting 'em with one when it ships later this month at $99.99. More details are packed in after the break, should you find yourself thirsty for more.

Continue reading Casio debuts Exilim EX-H20G (with Hybrid GPS) and EX-Z16 point-and-shoots

Casio debuts Exilim EX-H20G (with Hybrid GPS) and EX-Z16 point-and-shoots originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, September 19, 2010

This Chip Might Bring Perfect Reception to Your Home, Without Resentment [Femtocell]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5640230/this-chip-might-make-microcells-easier-to-swallow

This Chip Might Bring Perfect Reception to Your Home, Without ResentmentSo it's a quandary. Your house is in a service dead zone, and you don't want to shell out $150 more for something you're paying for already. What's worth more, principle or a functioning phone? That decision might be over.

The people at picoChip might have something to change the femtocell's most galling flaw: price. As we know, the things work great—lifechanger great. Who wouldn't want perfect coverage throughout their entire home? We all would. But who wants to pay extra for it? Well, that's another story.

But a new chipset, drawing fewer than 5 watts of power and, more importantly, costing only $50, could drive an entire new generation of femtocell systems, spreading cheap, perfect HSPA+ or 3G through your apartment, office, and even Times Square. The guts—a cheap chip on a simple wafer only several inches large—packs the antennae necessary to inflate not just your own private bubble of beautiful signal, but one that could—with the use of multiple, synced boxes—cover rolling rural areas with clear signals too. Or, as picoChip pointed out, their tech could be easily slipped into an connected media box—a Roku that blasted your house with cellular service might not be such a bad idea.

But no matter its form, with the cost of manufacturing the femtocell box sliced into quarters, the pain of your decision to buy one might go from a resentful ache to a slight pinch. You might not love the idea, but at a certain point, this might become so cheap that you'll just bite the bullet.

picoChip's new boards are HSPA+ only for now, with a 3G version coming later this year. When we spoke with Rupert Baines of picoChip, we asked about femtocell tech's other rather annoying quirk—having MicroCell usage count towards your plan minutes, even when you're using your own internet connection to carry them (possibly that of another company!). His answer wasn't definitive (nor need it be, as he's on the hardware side of things, not in AT&T's boardroom), but he's confident that driving the price of femtocell chips into the basement will force carriers to compete away from price—such as offering signal boosters that don't scrape away your minute pool. This might be an optimistic confidence in the ability of the market to go to bat for us, but those still suffering from shoddy service might have reason for hope. [picoChip]

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Arab Center's Wall Is Alive With 30,000 Mechanical Eyes [Architecture]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5641012/arab-centers-wall-is-alive-with-30000-mechanical-eyes

Arab Center's Wall Is Alive With 30,000 Mechanical EyesThe Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute, for you non-Francophones) is a 19 nation cultural consortium with incredible architectural bragging rights. Merging traditional Arab patterns with clever engineering, its south-facing wall dilates thousands of apertures to control sunlight exposure.

Arab Center's Wall Is Alive With 30,000 Mechanical Eyes

The automated wall of the Institute, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, broadens and narrows entirely on its own—just like the human eye—corresponding with the rising and setting sun. The result? Dazzling interior lighting patterns, and a no-fuss way of keeping cool during the day. [Inhabitat]

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