Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

MSI CR650 scores an AMD E-350 Zacate APU

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/msi-cr650-scores-an-amd-e-350-zacate-apu/

There's no question that AMD's new Fusion Zacate platform is pretty killer when it comes to ultraportables or notbooks (as we like to call 'em), but there's no reason the affordable, solid-performing APU couldn't power a budget 15.6-inch system, right? Well, that's certainly the way a few laptop manufacturers see it. Following in the footsteps of Toshiba's Satellite C655D, MSI's decided to cram its 15.6-inch CR650 with AMD's latest Fusion APU. Equipped with a Zacate E-350 CPU with Radeon HD 6310 graphics on the same die (the same chip in the HP dm1 we just reviewed), there's no doubt the rig can handle full HD and light games without a hiccup. We're not exactly drooling over the design, but it does have the basics, including a DVD drive, six-cell battery, HD webcam, and speakers that claim superior SRS sound. It will also be configurable with 250, 320, or 500GB hard drive and DDR3 RAM. There's no word on the price just yet, but our guess it should ring up at under $600 when it finally hits shelves.

MSI CR650 scores an AMD E-350 Zacate APU originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

CRN, TweakTown | Email this | Comments

AMD Radeon HD 6990 shows up in its metallic flesh, looking larger than life

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/amd-radeon-hd-6990-shows-up-in-its-metallic-flesh-looking-large/

What does the next great superpower of desktop graphics look like? Well, it shares an unmistakable family resemblance to the current champ, but its dimensions have somehow been made even larger. Yes, we're talking about AMD's Radeon HD 6990 -- a dual-GPU monstrosity that's set to serve as the company's 2011 flagship -- which has just been shown off at an Asia Pacific Fusion Tech Day gathering. Aside from the crazy imagery (one more after the break and a gallery at the source), we've found a promise that this polygon deliverator will be available in late Q1 2011. Which gives us just enough time to rent out a room big enough to house it. Now, when's Crysis 2 coming out?

[Thanks, Christopher]

Continue reading AMD Radeon HD 6990 shows up in its metallic flesh, looking larger than life

AMD Radeon HD 6990 shows up in its metallic flesh, looking larger than life originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 07:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

4Gamer.net | Email this | Comments

Cirago launches CMC3200 media player, NUS2000 USB network storage link

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/cirago-launches-cmc3200-media-player-nus2000-usb-network-storag/

The media streamer waters are awfully crowded, but Cirago's paying no mind to that. The company has this month introduced its new CMC3200 media player, hailed as the only 1080p system to offer 2TB of built-in storage, a WiFi adapter and a full year of PlayOn goodness. It's priced at $299.99 with the hard drive included, and it'll sport all of the basic functions already found on the 500GB and 1TB CiragoTV Platinum devices. In related news, the outfit's also dishing out its NUS2000 Link+ adapter, which provides remote access capabilities to up to four USB-connected storage devices. It's a compact device that's obviously set to rival Pogoplug's stable of NAS enablers, boasting a $100 price point and a foursome of USB 2.0 sockets. Moving on, Cirago's also announcing that its NUS1000 USB Network Storage Link features remote access, so there goes your excuse to upgrade. Hit the source link for the whole schpeel.

Continue reading Cirago launches CMC3200 media player, NUS2000 USB network storage link

Cirago launches CMC3200 media player, NUS2000 USB network storage link originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

Cirago &nb! sp;|&nbs p;Email this | Comments

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Why the Limitations of SSDs Are Actually Good [Ssd]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5742045/why-the-limitations-of-ssds-are-actually-good

You've been holding off on buying an SSD for awhile now, telling yourself they're too expensive and too limiting. Well, you're wrong. Here's why.

The Higher Cost Will Pay Itself Off

Why the Limitations of SSDs Are Actually Good Solid-state disks are considerably more expensive than hard disks, which is likely the biggest barrier for most people. 128GB SSDs will generally run you about $200 and 256GB will run you closer to $500. While this cost might feel prohibitively high, it's not as bad as you think.

Let's take the higher cost of $500 for example and say you've purchased a 256GB SSD to upgrade your laptop. Straight out of the gate you have a leftover internal hard drive that you can either sell for about $50-75 or turn into an external. Being optimistic, you're down to $425. That's not a big savings overall, but if you upgrade your laptop every 1-2 years you can keep using the same SSD. When you buy a new laptop, remove its hard drive and swap it with the SSD in the old one. The old laptop you're going to sell will now have a larger capacity hard drive and you can charge a little extra when you sell it. Over three sales you'll probably make an additional $100, bringing us down to $325. When the time comes to upgrade to a new SSD, you can sell the original SSD alone or with your old computer. Mark up the cost of the machine by $325 and you've covered your original costs. $325 for an SSD laptop upgrade is a pretty good deal. Of course you'll need to buy a new SSD, but you'll have made back your money at this point while using your SSD for several years.

Note: SSDs don't last forever and performance can degrade over time with some models, so make sure you get a high-quality SSD that's rated for a long life if you're going to do this. You can use a tool like SSD Life to keep an eye on things.

Size Doesn't Matter (Sort of)

Why the Limitations of SSDs Are Actually Good After a recent reader poll asking how much hard drive space you actually need in your computer, I came to realize that you, our readers, are a bunch of insane hoarders. That's okay! I like to hoard stuff, too, but I'd never pay extra for more than 256GB of disk space. When you have more space, you're most likely going to use it. This puts you in the habit of storing useless files on your computer that you either don't need or rarely need. It's like living alone in a two-bedroom apartment just so you can use the extra bedroom as a storage closet. For the most part, you can get rid of a lot of the files you think you need.

For some of us, we have a massive collection of crap we find comforting. For others, the space is necessary for large media projects. I fall into both of these categories, but external drives solve the problems far better than trying to manage huge amounts of data on the main internal drive. First of all, you get the benefit of virtually limitless space for your stuff. Second, you can organize your stuff by the drive if that helps. Third, if you need additional protection offered by, say, RAID, you can get that with external drives whereas you're not going to get that with a laptop and some desktops. Ultimately, the size of the internal disk in your computer can actually be bad for you after a certain point. For me it's around 250GB (I only use 200GB but I like to keep about 50GB of space free). For some of you it may be as little as 128GB, a size where SSDs are significantly more affordable.

In the end, the size limitations are going to be better for you. You can hoard your crap on external drives, stay more organized, and reap the benefits of a super-fast solid-state disk in your laptop or desktop computer.

When you decide to take the plunge, be sure to read how to take full advantage of your solid-state drive.

You can contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

TiltShift Generator for iPhone [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5742206/tiltshift-generator-for-iphone

iPhone photo apps these days have some sort of setting for "tilt shift," the popular photographic effect that makes scenes look like elaborate (and adorable) sets of miniature models. TiltShift Generator actually lets you control the miniature-making parameters.

TiltShift Generator for iPhone

What is it?

TiltShift Generator, iPhone, $1. Beginning as a popular web and Adobe AIR app, TiltShift Generator proved that you didn't need an expensive lens to make some pretty convincing tilt shift-y photographs. The iPhone app is the same idea—a dedicated, single-minded app for giving iPhone shots a quick and dirty tilt shift makeover. You can place the blur and adjust its radius, set sliders for saturation, brightness, contrast, and vignette effect, and save 'em to your photo roll. And they end up looking pretty damn good.

Who's it good for?

Budding iPhone photographers; people who want to feel like Godzilla compared to their iPhone photo subjects.

Why's it better than alternatives?

It gives you exactly the tools you need to make tilt shift photos on your iPhone 4 and shows you how to make them, with a built-in tutorial. It's cleanly designed, gives easy options for changing the export size of the photos, and it's only a buck.

How could it be even better?

Some other basic photo functions, like the ability to crop, would be welcome. And I wouldn't mind being able to tweak the settings in landscape to take advantage of all the real estate the iPhone has to offer.

TiltShift Generator, $1 | iTunes

We're always looking for cool apps—for iOS, Android, Windows Phone or whatever else—to feature as App of the Day. If you come across one you think we should take a look at, please let us know.

For more apps, check out our weekly app roundups for iPhone, iPad, and Android

Affinity Chair Sucks the Seated Into Michael Jackson's Dancefloor (Probably) [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5742567/affinity-chair-sucks-the-seated-into-michael-jacksons-dancefloor-probably

Ben Alun-Jones' chair either propels the user into a Billy Jean hellhole, or some sort of cruel '80s hairsalon vortex. Either way, the acrylic chair's sensors activate LEDs, forcing this ho-hum chair into a lit-up, flickering throne.

As you can see in the video above, it resembles just an ordinary chair before the sensors are triggered by nearby movement. I wonder if Alun-Jones could work the same technology into other furniture, such as a bed? I imagine for some people—such as Antoine Dodson's sister—that'd actually be pretty useful.

The Affinity chair can be checked out and set alight in LEDs at the Royal College of Art Interim Show in London between the 2nd and 7th of February, and after that at the Victoria and Albert Museum's digital festival on March 5th. [Ben Alun-Jones via DesignBoom]

Google brings Cloud Print service to mobile Google Docs, Gmail

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/google-brings-cloud-print-service-to-mobile-google-docs-gmail/

You'll still need to have that Windows PC acting as an intermediary, but folks looking to use Google's Cloud Print service now at least have considerably more devices at their disposal to print documents from. Following up its roll-out to Chrome OS netbooks last month, Google has now announced that it's begun rolling the service out to its mobile Google Docs and Gmail sites, which you'll be able to use to print documents from most mobile devices that supports HTML5 -- those running Android 2.1+ or iOS 3+, for instance. What's more, while you will still need that Windows PC connected to your printer for the time being, Google now notes that both Mac and Linux support are "coming soon."

Google brings Cloud Print service to mobile Google Docs, Gmail originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

Google Mobile Blog | Email this | Comments

3M touts capacitive touchscreens with tiny bezels, 10x faster responsiveness

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/3m-touts-capacitive-touchscreens-with-tiny-bezels-10x-faster-re/

Add another one to the (short) list of obscure things that slipped our net at CES. 3M, a company concerned with the materials and components that go into your delicious new gadgets, spent its time in Vegas this month discussing a new way for building capacitive touchscreen panels. By employing silver as its conducting material, 3M says it has made it possible to shrink the circuits at the edge of a touch panel by a whole order of magnitude, resulting in finger-friendly screens unhampered by bulky bezels. Additionally, due to silver's high conductivity, response times have been shown to dip down as low as 6ms, which is ten times speedier than the currently used Indium Tin Oxide stuff. It's arguable that neither advancement is revolutionary today, as bezels serve a purpose in providing a gripping surface for slate devices and touch responsiveness is currently constrained by software lag more than hardware capabilities, but 3M sure looks to have a nice building block for the future. The future being 2012, according to the company's estimates.

3M touts capacitive touchscreens with tiny bezels, 10x faster responsiveness originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Extreme Tech &n bsp;| source

source

MIT Technology Review | Email this | Comments

Microsoft's answer to the iPad: attack its enterprise weaknesses... even if nobody cares about them

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/microsofts-answer-to-the-ipad-attack-its-enterprise-weaknesses/

If we were running Microsoft, we'd stop trying to pigeonhole the iPad and focus instead on reversing Apple's domination of the burgeoning tablet market. Alas, for better or worse, we're not the ones in charge, so all we can do is cringe at the news that Microsoft has put together a marketing campaign for its reseller partners that highlights the iPad's enterprise shortcomings. Yes, the device that was patently designed for consumer-centric accessibility is being tarred with the damning brush of being unfriendly to business. The thing is, business customers are indeed deploying iPads in their workplaces, but we're pretty sure none of them are throwing out the ThinkPads in the process, which kinda makes Microsoft's furrowed brows and highfalutin concerns -- such as the lack of enterprise OS patch management tools -- seem, well, disconnected from reality. Still, we know trash talk when we see it and there's a whole ten slides of the stuff at the source link below.

Microsoft's answer to the iPad: attack its enterprise weaknesses... even if nobody cares about them originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

ZDNet | Email this | Comments

RIM: PlayBook battery life will be 'equal or greater than the iPad with smaller battery size'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/rim-playbook-battery-life-will-be-equal-or-greater-than-the-ip/

Hey, can everyone please stop talking about the iPad? RIM's been skirting around Apple's tablet, saying only that its upcoming PlayBook slate would have "comparable" battery life, but now it's dropped all pretense and called the iPad out by name. Specifically, the Canadian company's senior business marketing VP Jeff McDowell has promised that the PlayBook will offer "equal or greater" battery endurance to Apple's device, while using a smaller cell size. The latter part isn't hard to achieve, considering Apple filled most of its slate's innards with Li-Pol juice packs, but the promise of matching its autonomy from the wall socket is a big claim to make. Many people consider that to be among the iPad's foremost strengths, so RIM is surely aiming high by pledging to not only match it, but potentially better it. The PlayBook we saw in person wasn't quite up to that level yet, but there's still time until that March launch for RIM to turn bold words into a beautiful reality.

RIM: PlayBook battery life will be 'equal or greater than the iPad with smaller battery size' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

@Lessien (Twitter) | source

source

Reuters | Email this | Comments

Nioncom announces Android-based, pico projector-equipped MemoryKick Vision

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/nioncom-announces-android-based-pico-projector-equipped-memoryk/

MicroVision may not have any plans to turn the pico projector-equipped "mini-tablet" prototype it showed off at CES earlier this month into an actual product, but it looks like little-known Nioncom is now taking the idea and running with it. While it's still a bit too render-y for our tastes, the company insists that its MemoryKick Vision device is real, and that it will hit the US market sometime in the second quarter of the year. It's based around the same PicoP projector used in MicroVision's prototype, but it beefs things up with a larger 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen and, perhaps most notably, a 2.5-inch hard drive that promises to allow for 500GB to 1TB of storage (it also pushes the device's thickness to a full inch). Otherwise, you can expect to get Android 2.2 for an OS, a 5 megapixel camera, WiFi and Bluetooth, an accelerometer, HDMI in and out, a USB port, and an SD card slot for additional storage. Still no firm word on a price, but the company apparently expects it to be in the "mid-$500 range."

Gallery: Nioncom MemoryKick Vision

Nioncom announces Android-based, pico projector-equipped MemoryKick Vision originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

Picopros | Email this | Comments

Toshiba introduces industry's first 1.8-inch hard drives with LIF SATA connectors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/toshiba-introduces-industrys-first-1-8-inch-hard-drives-with-li/

Don't ever knock Toshiba for not pumping up the little guy. Well, unless you're producing microSATA-based 1.8-inch HDDs. Tosh has just revealed its newest line of PMP-friendly hard drives, with the industry's first 1.8-inch units being issued with low-insertion force (LIF) SATA connectors. They're being designed for use in media players, tablets and most anything else that can fit within the palm of your ever-sweating hand, with 160GB, 200GB and 220GB models being available. We're told that they surpass 2.5-inch drives in terms of vibration robustness, low power consumption, and quiet operation, and the whole lot also includes a 16MB buffer and requires just 0.35-watts to operate at low power idle. The whole package measures just 5- x 54- x 71mm, and while pricing information isn't readily available, samples will be headed out to product manufacturers next month.

Gallery: Toshiba introduces industry's first 1.8-inch hard drives with LIF SATA connectors

Continue reading Toshiba introduces industry's first 1.8-inch hard drives with LIF SATA connectors

Toshiba introduces industry's first 1.8-inch hard drives with LIF SATA connectors originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

source

Business Wire | Email this | Comments

Panasonic unleashes Lumix ZS10, ZS8, FX78, and TS3 point-and-shoot cameras

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/25/panasonic-unleashes-lumix-zs10-zs8-fx78-and-ts3-point-and-sho/

Thought Panasonic was done unleashing Lumix point-and-shoots for a bit? Us too, but apparently the compact cam fun isn't over yet. Yep, in addition to the eight it released earlier this month at CES, the company has four new ones for your eyes only tonight. Naturally, we've got all the important details and few glossy shots below. Oh, and if that's not enough for ya, you can always hit the break for the full press releases.

Up first are two new powerful shooters joining the ZS family: the DMC-ZS10 and DMC-ZS8. Like the previous ZS cams, the 14.1 megapixel ZS10 has a 24mm ultra-wide-angle and 16x optical zoom Leica lens, records 1080p video, and sports a three-inch touch LCD. The specs certainly impress, but Panny's also hoping you take its 3D Photo mode seriously -- the setting can produce a "realistic 3D photo" by taking 20 consecutive shots and overlaying the best two. Naturally, the images can be viewed on any of the Viera 3DTVs. The ZS8 sports most of the same specs, but cuts it down to just 720p recording. No word on the pricing on these two, but they should be hitting shelves in March.

Like its FX75 brother, the DMC-FX78 is all about Full HD. Packing a Leica 24mm wide-angle lens, the 12.1 megapixel FX78 can record full 1920 x 1080-resolution video in AVCHD. But beyond the recording specs, Panasonic has improved its 3.5-inch Smart Touchscreen, which basically allows you to control all the cam's functions -- autofocus, zooming, playback, etc. -- with, well you know, just a touch. Like the ZS cams, the FX includes the 3D Photo mode. As you may have guessed, no pricing yet on this bad boy, but it will come in black, gold, and white in March.

Last but not least is the rugged TS3. Like the DMC-TS1, the 12.1 megapixel shooter is completely waterproof, not to mention shockproof, freezeproof, and dustproof. Yep, it's as proofed as they come, and throw in the fact that it packs a compass, altimeter, and barometer and you pretty much can swap this thing out for a ton of other gear. As an actual camera, the TS3 doesn't sound too shabby either -- it can record 1080p video, packs a 3D mode, and boasts a 28mm wide-angle Leica lens. Nope, no pricing, but it'll join the others in March.

Gallery: Panasonic Lumix ZS10 and ZS8

Gallery: Panasonic Lumix FX78 and TS3

Continue reading Panasonic unleashes Lumix ZS10, ZS8, FX78, and TS3 point-and-shoot cameras

Panasonic unleashes Lumix ZS10, ZS8, FX78, and TS3 point-and-shoot cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email ! this | Comments

IBM says graphene won't fully replace silicon in CPUs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/25/ibm-says-graphene-wont-fully-replace-silicon-in-cpus/

As you may have been able to tell from the flurry of research that's occurred over the past few years (which has even resulted in a Nobel Prize), there's plenty of folks betting on graphene as the next big thing for computing. One of the big players in that respect has been IBM, which first opened up the so-called graphene bandgap and has created some of the fastest graphene transistors around, but is now sounding a slightly more cautious tone when it comes to the would-be demise of silicon-based CPUs. Speaking with Custom PC, IBM researcher Yu-Ming Lin said that "graphene as it is will not replace the role of silicon in the digital computing regime," and further explained that "there is an important distinction between the graphene transistors that we demonstrated, and the transistors used in a CPU." To that end, he notes that unlike silicon, "graphene does not have an energy gap," and that it therefore cannot be completely "switched off," which puts it at quite a disadvantage compared to silicon. Intel's director of components research, Mike Mayberry, also chimed in on the matter, and noted that "the industry has so much experience with it that there are no plans to move away from silicon as the substrate for chips." That doesn't mean that there still isn't a bright future for ! graphene , though -- Lin gives the example of hybrid circuit, for instance, which could use graphene as a complement to silicon in order to "enrich the functionality of computer chips."

IBM says graphene won't fully replace silicon in CPUs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

ZDNet |

source

Bit-Tech | Email this | Comments

Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop now shipping with stickers, the good kind

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/25/google-cr-48-chrome-laptop-now-shipping-with-stickers-the-good/

How is it that so few companies get it? While dozens of manufacturers will gladly slap an Intel, Microsoft, or NVIDIA advertisement on the palmrest of your brand new laptop, Google knows better than to partake in this annoying practice. Instead, it ships its Cr-48 Chrome laptop as a sticker-free slab of matte black stealth. At least it did. Now, don't worry, Google hasn't succumbed to the temptation to advertise (ironically) -- it's simply bundling this swank skin and a decal set with new Cr-48 shipments. The choice to apply is yours and yours alone, exactly as it should be. See the finished product after the break.

Continue reading Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop now shipping with stickers, the good kind

Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop now shipping with stickers, the good kind originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Luigi Montanez | source

source

The Chrome Source | Email this | Comments

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)