Archive for December, 2009
December 23, 2009
December 23, 2009
Update: According to our man Nicholas Negroponte, who took time out of his busy schedule to email us with the info, there are two other variations of the XO headed our way before we see the XO-3. Nick says we’ll see the XO-1.5 appear in January for around $200 — an update to the current version. As we’d heard before, the 1.5 iteration will swap a VIA CPU for the current AMD one, and will double the speed as well as quadruple both the DRAM and Flash memory of the current version. Furthermore, he says that in early 2011 the XO-1.75 (replacing that psychotically awesome 2.0 dual screen model) will make its appearance, and will sport rubber bumpers on the outer casing, an 8.9-inch touchscreen display inside, and will run atop a Marvell ARM processor which will enable two times the speed at a quarter of the power usage. That version will sell for somewhere in the $175 range. Then, no 2.0… straight on to the XO-3.0!
Gallery: OLPC XO3 Gallery
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
OLPC shows off absurdly thin XO-3 concept tablet for 2012 (update: XO-1.5 and XO-1.75 coming first) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Fact: most phones last. Thing is, for us (and likely many of you), they last far longer than our clinically-diagnosed Gadget Attention Deficit Disorder would ever tolerate — but for your dad, your sister, your college buddy with the hand-me-down ZEOS Pantera running Windows 95, or anyone weary of re-upping a two-year commitment, a handset can easily become a serious long-term investment. That helps explain why Motorola’s venerable RAZR series remains staggeringly high on Nielsen’s latest US phone usage report — third place, to be exact, at 2.3 percent of all subscribers behind the iPhone 3G at 4 percent and RIM’s BlackBerry Curve line at 3.7 percent. Needless to say, that doesn’t mean the ancient V3 line is still in third place for sales — it’s more a testament to the staggeringly huge RAZR user base Moto managed to develop over the years, many of whom scored their phones at sub-$100 price points as an attractive, midrange value in the phone’s twilight and have no intention of upgrading any time soon if they don’t have to. Maybe the most interesting part of this is that two V3 variants are also topping 2009′s most-recycled list, so they’re definitely getting taken out of circulation — it just might take a few years yet before you don’t know anyone that uses one, that’s all.
Nielsen stats: a lot of iPhones out there, but also a lot of everything else originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
December 22, 2009
December 22, 2009
Kudos where it’s due: not many design houses use tanks in their illustrations of a new road safety concept. Transparentius, as with most good ideas, is remarkably simple — you jack a camera onto the front of a truck, or lorry as they’re known in some places, and then project that image onto the back of your hulking transporter. The effect of this is to render the truck figuratively transparent for the driver behind, who is enriched with a lot more information about what lies on the road ahead. No word on how the rear projection is achieved or how sunlight glare is overcome, but knowing Art Lebedev, you can bet both challenges are solved in the most unaffordable fashion possible. Anyhow, now that you’ve got the idea, we’re throwing this one over to you dear mod-loving friends — can you build this without remortgaging the house?
[Thanks, Dennis]
Art Lebedev’s Transparentius eliminates opacity, improves road safety originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
December 22, 2009
NZXT has come up with a new computer case dubbed the Hades, where it won’t feature fire and brimstone but instead looks like a primitive stone carving, as though it was an object of worship a long, long time ago back when we still clubbed women and dragged them to our den by their hair. The Hades is a power computer case, boasting nine 5.25″ bays, alongside ample room for those huge video cards (or two) as well as a cooling mechanism if you prefer. Optimized airflow comes in the form of 5 fans (dual 200mm intake, 200 mm front fan, dual top 140mm fans, side 200mm fan, and rear 120mm exhaust), while a three temperature display located on the front panel enables you to keep an eye on the mercury within even behind closed doors. The NZXT Hades retails for $90.
Permalink: NZXT Hades computer case from Ubergizmo | Hot: Nokia Booklet 3G Review
December 21, 2009
You know, there are some things in life you never expect to do twice: get divorced, fall into the same puddle, write a post about scalp massagers. But here we are, looking at the OSIM uCrown 2 — an AA battery-powered “soothing head massager” that will jingle your worries away while using “patented air pressure technology, vibration, magnetic therapy” and heat to make your cranium a warm and cozy place to be. We give it credit for looking less like it came from the set of Spaceballs than your typical fare, but quickly take it back because of the ridiculous asking price of $200 and the fact neither model is brave enough to wear the uCrown with their eyes open.
OSIM uCrown 2 rubs your head, looks like an electric chair appendage originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
December 21, 2009
With a name like Bacillus subtilis and a size of five microns you probably wouldn’t expect much in the way of heavy lifting, but don’t let first impressions fool you. This tiny organism has been taught by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory to spin little gears that weigh one million times more than the bacteria themselves — that’d be like you lifting both an original Xbox and a PS3 at the same time! Applications are, apparently, endless, but the one that caught our eye involves photovoltaics able to “snag lots of photons from the sun.” You know what that means: more juice for your Prius so you can crank that Dead or Alive CD guilt-free.
Bacteria taught to spin microscopic gears right round, could make for better solar panels originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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December 21, 2009
Among the seemingly thousands of Android-powered HTC handsets rumored for the first half of 2010, little is known of the mysterious Espresso — the codename was found in a 2.1 ROM and a sketchy report claims that it’ll have a QWERTY keyboard for an MWC announcement, but other than that, we’re in the dark. Anyhow, Italian site hdblog.it now claims to have some shots ripped off the Espresso’s display, and at a glance, you can tell this isn’t quite the Sense we’re used to from the Hero. The bar along the bottom now features direct access to People — a feature we’d already heard would be revised for HTC’s next round of Android phones — and app icons have apparently been graced with translucent surrounds that are… well, not exactly pretty. We’ve got to keep our opinions in check until we actually see a shipping ROM, of course, so hopefully those talks of an MWC unveiling in February pan out.
HTC Espresso’s revised Sense UI spotted? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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December 20, 2009
The debate on whether mobile phones are slowly turning us into a world of ailment-riddled weaklings rages on in the scientific community, but at least one state may be ready to step up the ominous, non-actionable warnings anyway. A representative in Maine has apparently persuaded her colleagues to let her bring up a proposal during January’s session of the state legislature that would require warnings on devices about the alleged link between RF emissions and brain cancer, strongly advising users to keep the devices away from their heads and bodies. At best, this seems premature, and at worst, it runs a risk of breeding a nation of 24 / 7 Bluetooth headset users — but the politician responsible for the movement seems to have it figured out: she holds her own phone away from her head while using it and turns it off unless she’s expecting a call. Could someone in her district please let us know what kind of archaic voice-only device she’s using?
Maine mulling cancer warning labels on cellphones, manufacturers mulling warning label on Maine originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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