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Friday, April 01, 2011

Why Does This Crazy Router Look Like a Wind Turbine? [Wtf]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5787750/why-does-this-crazy-router-look-like-a-wind-turbine

The Japanese company Logitec, not the same company as Logitech mind you, is releasing this crazy router called LAN-WH450N/GR that has an antenna that looks like wind turbine blades. What the hell? The three antenna design supposedly lets the 802.11n router hit network speeds of 450Mbps.

Yeah, whatever Logi-no h-tec, I ain't buying it. So why did they release such a thing? Some theories:

• One is better than none, two is better than one, three is better than two. No one counts to four.
• It'll ideally be placed next to a window to generate power for itself
• It's a quadrocopter missing a limb
• It can be used as the claw
• I scratch your back, you scratch my back, router scratches all our backs
• It probably makes for a good iPad stand!
• Their router looks like the PS3 fat and they needed something to throw Sony Legal off their trail.
• Logitec just needs to make crazy shit so people don't get 'em confused with the Logitech everyone already knows.

Or maybe it does exactly what Logitec says it does and is completely necessary. Who really knows! $230 or ¥19,000. [Logitec via Oh Gizmo]

James Cameron's Next Plan To Reinvent Cinema [Blip]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5787970/james-camerons-next-plan-to-reinvent-cinema

James Cameron's Next Plan To Reinvent Cinema First it was digital projection. Then, 3D. And now James Cameron has set his sites on a more subtle—but possibly more important—innovation in film: frame rates. While the industry has been stuck at 24fps since the Roaring 20s, Cameron believes that by bumping that up to 48fps, or even 60fps, Hollywood can dramatically change our cinematic experience.

According to the LA Times:

He used a number of cinematic techniques in the footage to illuminate what he called the gravity of the gap between, say, 24 and 48 frames. One scene set at a dinner table included a number of panning shots, so the crowd could see how a 24 fps shot caused the image to "strobe" — which is when an image looks blurry, almost as if it is appearing in slow motion, seeming out of sync.

While even the filmmaker admitted that he was only able to notice a slight difference between a 48 fps and 60 fps, the audience audibly reacted to the increase in quality between 24 fps and 48 fps. The footage shown at 48 fps was far clearer and also had a much more realistic tone to it. That might be an issue for some filmmakers, Cameron acknowledged.

Most projectors are already capable of handling higher frame rates, and Cameron plans to shoot his Avatar sequel at at least 48fps. [LA Times]

Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/31/intel-posts-a-short-film-about-ssds-and-the-folly-of-not-using-t/

Intel cares about you. It cares that your data is safe and secure in a sturdy storage silo of the solid state variety. In order to enlighten you on the dangers that old and dusty magnetic hard drives pose, it has kindly fashioned out a short film detailing graphically the fate of your 1s and 0s when they're kept on an HDD that suffers an unexpected impact. It's atmospheric, thrilling stuff, which we dare not spoil for you here. We'll just say it ends on a pretty hilarious note and point you to the video below.

Continue reading Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them

Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nanogenerators produce electricity by squeezing your fingers together, while you dance

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/31/nanogenerators-produce-electricity-by-squeezing-your-fingers-tog/

It's been a while since we last heard about nanogenerators -- you know, those insanely tiny fibers that could potentially be woven into your hoodie to juice up your smartphone. Dr. Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology has reported that he and his team of Einsteins constructed nanogenerators with enough energy to potentially power LCDs, LEDs and laser diodes by moving your various limbs. These micro-powerhouses -- strands of piezoelectric zinc oxide, 1 / 500 the width of a single hair strand -- can generate electrical charges when flexed or strained. Wang and his team of researchers shoved a collection of their nanogenerators into a chip 1 / 4 the size of a stamp, stacked five of them on top of one another and can pinch the stack between their fingers to generate the output of two standard AA batteries -- around 3 volts. Although it's not much, we're super excited at this point in development -- imagine how convenient to charge your phone in your pocket sans the bulky battery add-ons. And that's only one application of this technology. Yea, we know.

Continue reading Nanogenerators produce electricity by squeezing your fingers together, while you dance

Nanogenerators produce electricity by squeezing your fingers together, while you dance originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

EurekAlert | source

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American Chemical Society | Email this | Comments

LG's dual-core Optimus 2X superphone now available from Expansys

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/01/lgs-dual-core-optimus-2x-superphone-now-available-from-expansys/

The world's most adored across-the-pond mobile retailer has just received its first batch of LG superphones, a gem by the name of Optimus 2X. As you well know by now, the company's playing this up as the planet's first dual-core smartphone, and while we'd hoped that the Tegra 2-based device would be everywhere by now, at least it's sticking to its scheduled release date over in Europe. Those interested in picking one up can get a SIM-free version headed their way for £449.99, while a free-on-contract affair can be had with T-Mobile, Vodafone and a host of others. Your credit card's been awful naughty of late -- dish out a little punishment by visiting the source link below.

[Thanks, Robert]

LG's dual-core Optimus 2X superphone now available from Expansys originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Awesome branding opportunity - Google Blimp Ads, launching in May, get it before they sell out (pics) click here - http://bit.ly/gpJ7Ek

Google is hiring Autocompleters - limited spots available at Mountain View HQ - http://bit.ly/gpJ7Ek

Awesome branding opportunity - Google Blimp Ads, launching in May, get it before they sell out (pics) click here - http://bit.ly/gpJ7Ek

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Camera+ Is the Only iOS Camera and Photo Editing App You Need [Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5787320/camera%2B-is-the-only-camera-and-photo-editing-app-you-need

Camera+ is pretty remarkable and solves so many problems you likely have with Apple's built-in camera app and the camera itself. We've never really highlighted it before (although we have mentioned it), partially due to its absence from the iTunes App Store for using a volume button as a shutter (which Apple didn't care for and everyone else loved) but with all it can do it seems like it's time to correct that.

While it comes with fun features like the filters and borders, that are almost a prerequisite on iPhone camera apps nowadays, you get some serious control over focus, exposure, alignment, and digital zoom. Sharing is easy, geotagging happens automatically, and the whole app is just seamless and beautiful.

Those things are all great, but there are two features that really stand out. When you take a photo, you can immediately take another photo. This might seem kind of silly to call out, but I find nothing more aggravating about the built-in camera app (and most other camera apps) than having to wait for the camera to load and to be allowed to take another picture. Impatience isn't so much the problem as is the possibility of missing an important photo opportunity. The other really great feature is Clarity, which is basically a step up from smartphone-based HDR photography. Most DSLRs and digital point-and-shoot cameras now have a mode that salvages important detail from the over- and under-exposed parts of your photographs. Clarity is a one-touch feature in Camera+ that bumps up the detail and improves your photos in several other aspects. I saw the examples on the Camera+ site but figured they were more staged examples. When I tried the Clarity feature yesterday on both mundane and terribly lit images, the results were really impressive. You won't want to use it for every picture, but it's definitely capable of turning an OK photo into a good-to-great photo.

With all the great stuff in the app, something needed to be sacrificed. It seems that happened in the photo saving department. I found when saving photos to my camera roll, it took much longer than I expected. The obvious workaround is to just take your photos and save them later when you have more time, but that still involves waiting. Nonetheless, it's a small gripe about a really impressive app. If they can fix that I'd have nothing to complain about.

Camera+ is currently available on the iTunes App Store, on sale for $1, right now.

Camera+ | iTunes App Store

Creepy Stalks Twitter, Foursquare, and Flickr Users by Aggregating GPS Data [Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/#!5787336/creepy-stalks-twitter-and-flickr-users-by-aggregating-gps-data

Windows/Linux: If you've ever doubted how much anyone could track you based on information embedded in geolocation services like Foursquare, Twitter, and Flickr, free app Creepy will show you by aggregating GPS coordinates for any user, pointing out their most frequented hangouts on a map.

Let's say you wanted to know where a specific Twitter, Foursquare, or Flickr user spends the majority of her time; Creepy lives up to its name by showing you. Just type in any username for a supported service and it will grab any and all location data it can find, from Foursquare check-ins, tweet locations, and even the EXIF data from photos posted to Flickr, Twitpic, yFrog, and other image services. Essentially, it's a stalker's dream app.

Like previously mentioned Firesheep extension for Firefox, consider this app as more as an interesting proof-of-concept (we trust you to use it for good!). Perhaps you didn't realize how accurately your tweets can pinpoint your house or favorite hangouts, or perhaps you didn't even know you were sharing location data in all your uploaded photos (easy to remove if you know how). Punch in your own accounts and see how much shows up—you might be surprised.

Creepy is a free download for Windows and Linux.

You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

Memefy for iPad Puts the Power of Lulz at Your Fingertips [Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5787438/memefy-for-ipad-puts-the-power-of-lulz-at-your-fingertips

Memefy for iPad Puts the Power of Lulz at Your Fingertips 1. DOWNLOAD MEMEFY ON IPAD
2. PICK MEME TEMPLATE
3. ALTERNATELY, UPLOAD YOUR OWN PHOTO
4. ADD LULZ-WORTHY TEXT
5. UPLOAD
6. ?????????????????
7. PROFIT.
[iTunes]

Vimeo's gratis iOS video editing app punks iMovie in its own house, available now

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/vimeos-gratis-ios-video-editing-app-punks-imovie-in-its-own-hou/

Still waffling over that bank-shattering $4.99 iMovie purchase? We get it. Thankfully, you've held out long enough for the free market to come and rescue you (again) -- Vimeo has just launched a legitimate alternative into the App Store today with a far, far more luscious price tag: $0.00. The official iOS app checks in at 20.1MB, and offers the ability to upload, manage, edit and watch your videos (as well as those conjured up by others, naturally). It'll handle edits and uploads for both SD and HD footage, and there's even support for pausing / resuming uploads, sharing via your favorite social networking website, and a view to statistics -- if you're into that type of narcissistic thing. The app's up for grabs down in the source link below, and while we're hearing that some folks are hitting upload snags every so often, we're sure the v1.0 build will be refreshed in short order. Oh, and for the iPad and Android contingent? Your copy is en route, but a helping of patience is requested.

Continue reading Vimeo's gratis iOS video editing app punks iMovie in its own house, available now

Vimeo's gratis iOS video editing app punks iMovie in its own house, available now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched | source

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Best Buy Connect takes the 4G leap, now stocking over 20 WiMAX products

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/best-buy-connect-takes-the-4g-leap-now-stocking-over-20-wimax-p/

Took 'em long enough! Nearly a full year has elapsed between the time that Best Buy announced that its 'Connect' program would support 4G and the time that it actually started stocked 4G gear. In fact, the company actually took the time to sign up for LightSquared's wholesale LTE service a full week prior to making good on its commitment to Clearwire, which may or may not say anything about the future viability of WiMAX. At any rate, those who'd prefer to sift through mounds of peripherals (and be hounded at the exit by employees attempting to hawk product protection plans) in order to buy their 4G service can now do just that. BB Connect stores in the US will offer unlimited 4G service for $45 per month with a month-to-month or two-year contract, and if you choose the latter, the $35 activation fee will be waived and a hardware subsidy ("up to $150") will be yours. So, you digging in, or feeling the tug of Long-Term Evolution?

Continue reading Best Buy Connect takes the 4G leap, now stocking over 20 WiMAX products

Best Buy Connect takes the 4G leap, now stocking over 20 WiMAX products originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This year's hottest pocket mirror is also a USB 3.0 multi-format card reader

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/this-years-hottest-pocket-mirror-is-also-a-usb-3-0-multi-format/

We always knew that the worlds of technology and popular culture were on a collision course of epic proportions, and if this isn't proof... well, you might say that proof simply doesn't exist. Brando's newest gizmo has an identity crisis that Charlie Sheen would simply salivate over, but if we had to guess, we'd surmise that a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed card reader -- complete with support for CompactFlash, SDXC and M2 cards -- does a lot more #winning with a mirror slapped onto the side. Pre-order yours today for the tidy sum of $25, or alternatively, a vial of #tigerblood.

This year's hottest pocket mirror is also a USB 3.0 multi-format card reader originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ECOmove QBEAK EV unveiled, grows a roof but no actual beak (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/ecomove-qbeak-ev-unveiled-grows-a-roof-but-no-actutal-beak-vid/

ECOmove QBEAK EV unveiled, grows a roof but no actutal beak

You might expect a car with the word "beak" in its nose to have something of a pronounced proboscis. Not so. It's the ECOmove QBEAK, a little, orange, all-electric car that's now been shown in the actual flesh in both coupe and convertible form. The car seats an odd number of people, three or six depending on configuration (something we definitely like), yet is smaller than a Smart Fortwo. It does this thanks to motors that fit in the wheels and composite suspension that's much more compact than your average strut setup. Range is up to 300km -- 186 miles -- but at this point we don't know much more about when this tangerine dream might be rolling into showrooms for real. Video of its unveil below.

Continue reading ECOmove QBEAK EV unveiled, grows a roof but no actual beak (video)

ECOmove QBEAK EV unveiled, grows a roof but no actual beak (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Autoblog Green |

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