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Friday, August 03, 2012

Logitech launches TV Cam HD for living room video chats: built-in Skype, 720p, $200

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/03/logitech-skype-tv-cam-hd/

If Cisco's ill-fated Umi video conferencing system had been more like this, would it have survived? Logitech is about to find out, one way or the other, once its TV Cam HD -- recently spotted at the FCC -- arrives in the US this month. The $199.99 device hooks up to your TV and contains all the processing power needed to run Skype and transmit wide-angle, 720p footage of your couch over WiFi or Ethernet. Unlike the previous TV Cam, there's no need for a Viera Connect HDTV -- anything with HDMI-in will do. The company is banking on the notion that families will forgo the use of their existing mobile devices and laptops in favour of an always-on dedicated system with incoming call alerts, four noise-cancelling mics and a Carl Zeiss lens that "gets the whole family in the video call, so everyone from grandparents to grandchildren can move around naturally." If you're tempted, the publicity video after the break gives a decent overview of the product in action.

Continue reading Logitech launches TV Cam HD for living room video chats: built-in Skype, 720p, $200

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Networking

Logitech launches TV Cam HD for living room video chats: built-in Skype, 720p, $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, August 02, 2012

Perfectly Clear for Android: Instant Edits to Your Smartphone Snaps [App Of The Day]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931350/perfectly-clear-for-android-instant-edits-to-your-smartphone-snaps

Smartphone cameras have gotten so good that many people are ditching their point-and-shoots. Because of that, you can share your shots instantly, and if they're not to your liking you can make them even better right on your device with Perfectly Clear for Android

What does it do?

Lets you effortlessly edit photos on your phone using simple swipes and taps.

Why do we like it?

These days, everyone is a photographer, thanks to smartphones. But most people are pretty crappy photographers, although Perfectly Clear will help them fool the critics. You can make 10 detailed corrections like smoothing out skin, whitening teeth, and enhancing the eyes. When you're taking a snapshot there's always room for user error, but this app will fix those flubs with minimal effort.

Perfectly Clear

Download this app for:

Android, $0.99

The Best:

Lots of edits

The Worst:

Interface is ugly

PSA: Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners now have direct access to Google Wallet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/psa-verizon-galaxy-nexus-owners-now-have-direct-access-to-googl/

Nobody puts Google Wallet in the corner for long, not even Big Red. Though the carrier courted controversy late last year by withholding support for the burgeoning NFC-based platform amidst security concerns, it appears to have finally changed tack. Owners of that LTE Galaxy Nexus variant are now reporting the ability to access the app from the Play store, no workarounds necessary. Though we weren't able to verify the success of that particular method -- no results surfaced during a quick store search -- we did have success downloading the application to our stock, unrooted device using a direct market link. We've since reached out to Verizon for official comment on the matter, but have yet to hear back. In the meantime, if you've been itching to give Mountain View's brand of mobile payment a go, hit up the source link below and let us know how you fare in the comments.

[Thanks, Keith]

PSA: Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners now have direct access to Google Wallet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:29:00 EDT. Please see! our terms for use of feeds.

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Ting becomes first US MVNO to hop the Galaxy S III bandwagon, outlines its device roadmap

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/ting-becomes-first-us-mvno-to-hop-the-galaxy-s-iii-bandwagon/

Ting has drawn a lot of attention among MVNOs for its unique mix-and-match approach to contract-free plans, but it's had to contend with some rather middling phones inherited from its network partner Sprint. That gap in high-end phones will narrow before the summer's up: Ting plans to carry the Galaxy S III within three to six weeks, becoming the first virtual carrier in the US to tout Samsung's flagship. Its version is identical to the Sprint model and will even cost $20 less when you skip Sprint's two-year term, at $529 for a 16GB edition and $579 for its 32GB cousin. If that doesn't satisfy the appetite, Ting is also giving a peek at its menu for the months ahead. Along with adopting LTE this year to make that Galaxy S III hum, the carrier expects to bring in a more moderately-priced LTE phone, a hotspot, an accessible phone and a budget slider. We wouldn't base any carrier switches around an iPhone or Windows Phone option, though. There's only "some progress" coaxing a deal out of Apple, and a Windows Phone is most likely to wait until the first quarter of 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Ting becomes first US MVNO to hop the Galaxy S III bandwagon, outlines its device roadmap originally! appeare d on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 19:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: Now You Can Own A Beautiful Bronx Mansion That Was Originally Designed For Jesus

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-home-designed-for-jesus-in-the-bronx-hits-the-market-2012-8

riverdale house jesus christ

The Chapel Hill Mansion in Riverdale, N.Y. has hit the market for $13.588 million.

The home, built in 1928, has seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

The head of the New York Theological Society commissioned the house for the preparation of the "second coming of Jesus Christ," according to The Real Deal.

The home would house "the Christian savior once he returned to earth to judge the living and the dead," listing broker Sean McPeak of Prudential Douglas Elliman, told The Real Deal.

The 15,000-square-foot house sits on 2.3 acres of land.

Manhattan College previously owned the property, and had planned to use it as dormitories or a seminary, but is now in the hands of a private owner who is an attorney, The Real Deal reported.

Welcome to West 253rd Street.

The home features marble floors imported from the Vatican and chandeliers from the Plaza Hotel.

In the foyer and bar area, gold and silver leaf adorn the ceilings.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

Dying a Single Shirt With CO2 Saves 25 Liters of Water [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931326/dying-a-single-shirt-with-co2-saves-25-liters-of-water

The simple act of turning a shirt from white to blue—or any color—requires 25 liters of water and enough harmful chemicals that every clothing manufacturer should be looking for safer methods. Like this fantastic CO2-based DryDye technology that Adidas has started using which doesn't require a single drop of H2O.

But it's not like the color dyes are blasted at the shirts with a pressurized CO2 canister—although that would be pretty awesome. In reality, the fabrics and chemical dyes are placed in a large sealed chamber, and CO2 is pumped in to a pressure of about 74 bar. The tank is also heated to 88 degrees fahrenheit at which point the CO2 behaves like a gas and a liquid, allowing the colored dyes to thoroughly permeate the fabrics without the use of excessive chemicals.

The DryDye process actually uses about half the chemicals as traditional water-based dying methods, and requires about half the energy too, so it seems like an all-around better way to go about tinting clothing. Which is probably why Adidas has already made 50,000 shirts using this safer process this summer, and is banging the drum so everyone knows how awesome they are for doing so. [Adidas via Gizmag]

Software Glitch Costs Trading Firm $440 Million In 45 Minutes [Wtf]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931284/software-glitch-costs-trading-firm-440-million-in-45-minutes

Knight Capital lost $440 million in a flash on Wednesday when newly installed trading software went haywire. That's nearly double the company's second quarter revenue, and could be enough to sink Knight for good.

You know all the concerns about automated high-speed trading on the stock market? This.

So how does a screw up this colossally epic happen? According to The New York Times, the company "accidentally sold all of the stocks it bought Wednesday morning." Seriously:

The problem on Wednesday led the firm's computers to rapidly buy and sell millions of shares in over a hundred stocks for about 45 minutes after the markets opened. Those trades pushed the value of many stocks up, and the company's losses appear to have occurred when it had to sell the overvalued shares back into the market at a lower price.

Oopsies! What? How the hell does that happen by accident? This isn't the first time a computer error has caused massive losses on the stock market—in fact Knight took it on the chin during the NASDAQ Facebook IPO fiasco as well—and it's just going to keep happening if the industry isn't better regulated. Financial institutions hate regulation, but as this case plainly proves rules aren't just there to protect us plebs. They can save billionaire asses as well. [New York Times]

Image via Mark Lennihan / AP

ARM claims new GPU has desktop-class brains, requests OpenCL certificate to prove it

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/arm-mali-opencl/

It's been a while since ARM announced its next generation of Mali GPUs, the T604 and T658, but in the semiconductor business silence should never be confused with inactivity. Behind the scenes, the chip designers have been working with Khronos -- that great keeper of open standards -- to ensure the new graphics processors are fully compliant with OpenCL and are therefore able to use their silicon for general compute tasks (AR, photo manipulation, video rendering etc.) as well as for producing pretty visuals.

Importantly, ARM isn't settling for the Embedded Profile version of OpenCL that has been "relaxed" for mobile devices, but is instead aiming for the same Full Profile OpenCL 1.1 found in compliant laptop and desktop GPUs. A tall order for a low-power processor, perhaps, but we have a strong feeling that Khronos's certification is just a formality at this point, and that today's news is a harbinger of real, commercial T6xx-powered devices coming before the end of the year. Even the souped-up Mali 400 in the European Galaxy S III can only reign for so long.

Continue reading ARM claims new GPU has desktop-class brains, requests OpenCL certificate to prove it!

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs

ARM claims new GPU has desktop-class brains, requests OpenCL certificate to prove it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's New Superfast Chips Could Fuel Your Future iPhone [Guts]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931281/samsungs-new-superfast-chips-could-fuel-your-future-iphone

Samsung has just announced some superfast new chips and they might one day power an iPhone.

The company claims the Pro Class 1500 line is the Usain Bolt of flash memory cards—four times speedier than predecessors, and possibly the fastest chips around. They can read data at 140 MB per second and write it at 50 MB per second and process at 1,500 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) for writing and 3,500 for reading. They come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB configurations. Despite their very public squabbling, Samsung still provides Apple with some very important components, including flash memory.

And the latest chips could be the innards that supercharge not your next iPhone, but your next next iPhone. [Samsung Tomorrow via Engadget]

Image credit: Samsung Tomorrow

Compact Hydroponics Cube Turns an Extra Parking Spot Into a Vegetable Farm [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931253/compact-hydroponics-cube-turns-an-extra-parking-spot-into-a-vegetable-farm

Tired of paying the exorbitant markup for fresh produce at your grocery store? For a mere $70,000—and the cost of finding someplace else to park your car—this compact hydroponics container lets you grow a farm's worth of vegetables on a minimal chunk of land.

In fact, the creators of the aqua-cube claim it can successfully grow up to 23 different varieties of leafy vegetables, or smaller root plants like radishes and turnips, at the same time. And while $70,000 is certainly a steep investment, its yield is promised to be upwards of 10,000 heads of lettuce per year. More than the average family can consume, but perfect for a restaurant with a free parking spot near the kitchen. Just make sure you spring for the rooftop solar panel option to help cut down on the aqua-cube's $4,500 yearly power bill.

Sharp: we're making displays for new iPhone and shipping them this month

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/sharp-new-iphone/

In an effort to end today's dismal earnings report on a high, Sharp's president Takashi Okuda has purposefully let slip that his company is among those contracted to manufacture displays for a new iPhone. We already have numerous reasons to suspect the iPhone 5 will be announced around September 12th, and Okuda has now corroborated that by saying that "shipments will start in August." If earlier rumors and component leaks are to be trusted, the screen will be significantly larger (likely around 4-inches) and slightly less rotund than that on the iPhone 4S.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sharp: we're making displays for new iPhone and shipping them this month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 06:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nixeus shows off 27-inch IPS Vue monitor with 2560 x 1440 resolution, $430 price

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/02/nixeus-27-inch-IPS-Vue-2560-1440/

Greenhorn Nixeus, perhaps better known for media streamers, has jumped headfirst into the display market with the 27-inch IPS Vue model boasting a 2,560 x 1,440 pixel WQHD resolution and priced at $430 -- around half what you'll pay for similar panels. The new model, which the company says will be released on August 21st, seems to be nicely specced with an LG S-IPS panel, true 8-bit color, 6ms refresh, DVI / DisplayPort / HDMI 1.4 connection options and full-portrait tilting. If you've been coveting more screen space and pixels, but don't want to be reduced to bread and water, it'll go up for pre-order soon.

Filed under: Displays

Nixeus shows off 27-inch IPS Vue monitor with 2560 x 1440 resolution, $430 price originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 10:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Guy Stomps Out 3G Hotspots at the Olympics [Olympics]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931156/this-guy-stomps-out-3g-hotspots-at-the-olympics

Portable Wi-Fi hotspots, powered by 3G, are banned at all the Olympic venues in London. But while that might sound like a hollow threat, this man makes sure it isn't, by sniffing out rogue Wi-Fi networks and shutting them down.

There is, of course, good reason to want to keep portable Wi-Fi hotspots out of the games. At events that increasingly rely on wireless communication —for everything from referee mics through timing devices to wireless cameras—interference could easily get in the way of the smooth running of things. As the saying goes, better to be safe than sorry.

There is, however, something rather amusing about seeing a man wander around with an antenna to stop people sharing their internet. [Reddit]

Image by Aschebescher

Aperion Audio Intimus 4T Summit touts uncompressed surround sound without the cords

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/01/aperion-audio-intimus-4t-summit-touts-uncompressed-surround-sound/

See that little box next to those huge speakers? That's Aperion Audio's ticket to what's reportedly a no-compromise approach to wireless home theater. The Intimus 4T Summit Wireless is billed as the only system of its kind to transmit uncompressed 24-bit, 96KHz audio to its 5.1- or 7.1-channel speaker array without having to string wires across the living room. There's no interference and no more than 5ms of lag, even when that wunderkind box is processing Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio. Aperion is still touting an easy setup that can create a sweet spot in awkward spaces. If you like the idea, the only real catches are the $2,999 and $3,499 prices for the respective 5.1- and 7.1-channel systems -- although the outlay may be worthwhile to cut the clutter without sacrificing the finer details of Blu-ray movie soundtracks.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Aperion Audio Intimus 4T Summit touts uncompressed surround sound without the cords originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook releases its 2011 energy usage report, details your carbon footprint

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/01/facebook-2011-energy-statistics/

More Facebook news, but this time we're back to the numbers instead of reporting on a new feature, improvement or integration. As part of its mission to swap the familiar blue for something of a greener tinge, Facebook released today its carbon footprint and overall energy usage figures for 2011. Turning bio-babble into easy visualizations, the company points out that for the whole year, an active user occupied roughly the same carbon footprint as one medium latte. Or, if you're a fan of the tipple, a couple of glasses of wine. Impressively, 23 percent of the social giant's energy usage came from clean and renewable sources, which puts it well on the way to its 2015 target of 25 percent or more. If you'd like more info and a complete breakdown of the stats, the full report is available at the source link below.

Filed under: Internet

Facebook releases its 2011 energy usage report, details your carbon footprint originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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