Myriad Social TV brings social networking to your cable box (hands-on video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/23/myriad-social-tv-hands-on/

The marriage of social networking and television is nothing new, but Myriad recently launched Social TV, a white label solution which allows TV service providers to roll out their own custom social networking platform on your cable box. It complements services like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ by offering a more contextual way for viewers to interact with their friends while watching TV. Social TV provides an integrated HTML5 experience that's consistent across both television and companion devices (phones and tablets). Viewers can chose between receiving alerts on their TVs, mobile devices or both and can create show- or series-specific virtual communities that automatically expire when the program ends. The system is even mindful of time zones and time-shifts messages to prevent spoilers. More after the break.

Gallery: Myriad Social TV hands-on

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD

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NVIDIA details how its Jetson development kit creates smart, seeing cars

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/23/nvidia-details-how-its-new-jetson-development-kit-creates-smart-cars/

Developing a high-end in-car infotainment system can present challenges that don't exist in other platforms -- you're juggling core car systems, a myriad of sensors and media playback in a testbed on wheels. NVIDIA has just explained how it's uniting those elements with its new, lengthily-titled Jetson Automotive Development Platform. While it looks like a single-DIN car stereo laid bare, the configurable kit incorporates a Tegra processor (for usual infotainment functions), multiple car-friendly interfaces and a Kepler-based graphics chipset that can power car detection, lane departure and other computer vision systems by using CUDA or OpenCV code. The net effect should be a much simpler development process: automakers can consolidate some of their test hardware in one Jetson unit that they can upgrade or swap out if newer technology comes along. NVIDIA isn't naming the handful of designers and suppliers that are already building car electronics using Jetson, although history offers a few possible candidates.

Filed under: GPS, Home Entertainment, Transportation, NVIDIA

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Source: NVIDIA (1), (2)

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Article: Panasonic 2013 Smart TVs wield Nuance Dragon TV for voice control, text-to-speech

Panasonic and Nuance have been close partners on TV voice recognition in the past; we now know that they're getting a bit cozier for Panasonic's 2013 Smart TVs. The company's newer LCDs and plasmas with voice recognition use Nuance's Dragon TV for voice-only control of basics like volume as well ...

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/23/panasonics-2013-smart-tvs-lean-on-nuance-dragon-tv-for-voice/

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AMD intros Radeon HD 7790 graphics card for $149, promises cooler and quieter 1080p gaming

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/22/amd-radeon-hd-7790/

We were half expecting AMD's next graphics card to be some sort of supercomputing colossus, given all the buzz around NVIDIA's GTX Titan. As it turns out, though, we're looking at something more subtle and just slightly more affordable: the new Radeon HD 7790. It slots into a cosy niche between the 7770 and the 7850, targeting gamers who want a good helping of 28nm silicon and potential for CrossFire expansion but who don't want to stretch beyond $149. Efficiency tweaks allow the 7790 to offer almost 50 percent more processing power than the 7770 while only demanding a smidgen of extra wattage (85 W instead of 80 W), which bodes well for cooling and decibels. Relative to the 7850, which can now be had for under $200, you'd be getting a card with half the power consumption, half the memory (1GB GDDR5), half the memory bandwidth (128-bit) and around 30 percent less processing power.

Compare it to the closest rival from NVIDIA, the GTX 650 Ti, which currently fetches upwards of $140, and AMD claims the Radeon HD 7790 offers an average 20 percent advantage in frame rates at 1080p -- enough that you shouldn't need to worry about games like Tomb Raider or Hitman: Absolution at that resolution. Check out the slide deck for further details and official frame-rate charts, and expect to see the card reach retailers starting April 2nd.

Galler y: AMD Radeon HD 7790 slide deck

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, AMD

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A Solar-Powered Hand-Cranked Digital Camera Laughs At Your Limited Battery Life

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5991746/a-solar+powered-hand+cranked-digital-camera-laughs-at-your-limited-battery-life

What this $200, three-magapixel digital camera lacks in features, functionality, and image quality; it more than makes up for in battery life. Because in theory, as long as you've got sunlight or at least one arm, you can keep it powered indefinitely.

As its namesake implies, what really sets the Sun & Cloud digital camera apart from its competition is the inclusion of a solar panel on top, and a retractable generator crank on the side. So with a lot of sunlight and/or elbow grease, you can perpetually keep its battery charged. Besides a microSD memory card slot and 15 built-in digital filters, the camera unfortunately mostly disappoints with its limited photo resolution and basic 640x480 video capabilities. So while the Sun & Cloud can in theory run forever, will you really want it to?

[AC Gears]

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