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Lucasfilm Shuts Down Local Star Wars Marathon Over Copyright

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 06:18 PM PDT

A group of Star Wars fans in New York were organizing a marathon of all six movies at their local bar, but have canceled the event after receiving a cease and desist letter from Lucasfilm. The letter apparently declared the marathon in violation of copyright, and said they’d forbidden public screenings.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ll be giving Lucasfilm any of my money for a while. Think about it, Lucasfilm. Everything you have is because of people like these guys, who were just trying to put together a love-fest for your golden-egg-laying goose. This kind of thing doesn’t go over well.

[via TechDirt]

Dell Peju Windows 7 Tablet Design Documents Leaked

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 05:25 PM PDT


I can’t say the market for Windows tablets is blowing up right now, what with the iPad-Android war heating up and the enticing Windows 8 on the horizon, but there is a market and Dell would want a part of it. Their Peju tablet was leaked before but in very little detail, so this new info is welcome.

All your Peju-related news can be found at Dell Peju Insider, a rather finely-pointed website, but useful nevertheless. The specs are all there in the latest (and only) post, and haven’t been confirmed, though they don’t seem so far out. A Core i5, 4GB of RAM, a nice variety of ports, digitizer pen support, and a fat battery, coming in at just under two pounds.

The spec that gets me going is the screen: 10.1 inches of Gorilla Glass at 1920×1080. That would be nice! Windows tablets right now are aimed at enterprise for the most part, but this would be a sweet home media tablet, especially with the little dock station there.

They (whoever “they” are) peg the release at October-ish, and it’ll ship with Windows 7 but be Windows 8 compatible (naturally). Hopefully we’ll hear some more soon that corroborates this.

[via Engadget]

Smart Design: Fanless Heatsink Spins Itself

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 01:59 PM PDT


This is a nice little twist on the traditional heatsink design you find on CPUs around the world. While normally you’d have a thermally conductive surface, some heat pipes, and a fan driving air over stationary heatsink plates, this design from Sandia switches things up. No fan at all — or if you like, the heatsink is the fan.

Basically the heatsink is a vortex-like shape that scoops up air into the gaps between the blades and creates a downward flow of cool air towards the center of the heatsink. It’s an elegant solution, though of course not without its downfalls.

The footprint is necessarily large because of the principles involved; most CPU coolers move heat out perpendicular to the heated element (i.e. directly away from the CPU) and as such are orientated vertically, if you will. This needs much more horizontal space (though it’s much smaller overall), something that’s at a premium on ATX boards, what with all the extra PCI stuff, six or more RAM slots, and voltage connectors wherever there’s a spare bit of PCB. And the microscopic distance between the blades and the surface might be hard to maintain (or keep clean).

That said, it’s an interesting design and could be a great solution for compact electronics like laptop boards and embedded systems. They’re looking into lots of different applications, but don’t expect one in your desktop any time soon. More info here. Patent pending!

[via Tech Report]

Concrete Speakers Look Good, Yet I Question Their Fidelity

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 01:11 PM PDT


These “Exposed Concrete” speakers are a grad school design project by Israeli designer Shmuel Linski. His rationale for the unusual material choice is that… well, okay, there is no rationale, he just thought it’d be cool.

And certainly more love goes into creating them than your average robot-assembled standing set:

On the project’s page, he notes:

In my work I tried to give, in addition to great aesthetics, practical reasons for using concrete as a main material in a product. When concrete meets sound, it might distort the sound, because the concrete is very stiff (usually speakers are made of wood or MDF). The speakers might therefore sound strange.

He doesn’t seem to resume that thought, probably because there’s nowhere to go but down. Let’s be frank: these speakers probably sound awful. Concrete doesn’t resonate and its total opacity to sound would result in a hollow, echoing effect through the bass tube.

Still, they’re cool-looking things and probably bombproof. Get a couple for your fallout shelter — audiophiles will have bigger things to worry about in nuclear winter.

[via Stereophile and Crave]

CrunchGear Is Headed To TechCrunch/Gadgets

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 12:13 PM PDT


By now you’ve probably seen Mike’s post about the redesign coming next week and I wanted to talk a bit about where things are headed. CrunchGear, in short, is being subsumed into TechCrunch/Gadgets, a plan that has been long percolating at the HQ and something we, in a way, welcome.

I started CrunchGear on August 10, 2006. Mike Arrington called me after I left Gizmodo and asked me to start a gadget blog. I did. It’s been nearly five years now and in that time we’ve posted 47,243 stories, run through dozens of writers, and amused a few million of you guys on a daily basis. So things will change slightly, but the same CrunchGear wit, wisdom, and opinion will be in full effect over at our new home.

I’ll miss the beautiful orange and white color scheme and being able to say we’re a separate entity from the mothership, but I won’t miss the server problems (we always got hand-me-downs) and the rigamarole associated with cross-posting to TC when we figured those guys deserved to see something we wrote. Sticking this all into one big site, with separate channels, makes perfect sense and has nothing to do with the AOL Way. I like to think it’s an evolution of the content and a chance to catch our breath and start writing longer, more detailed posts for TC proper while still maintaining the same quick-hit gadget coverage for TC/G. We’ll keep the CG Twitter account for the time being and probably move to TCGadget (note the missing s) as well. The domain itself will forward and all should be right with the world come Monday or Tuesday.

I know I say this a lot, but you guys are a great audience and you – and you alone – are the main reason we keep waking up morning after morning to write about gadgets. We’ll still be there for you and I hope you’ll be there for us. Good night and good luck.


Here, Look At This $40,000 Wooden Ditch Digger

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 11:51 AM PDT

Woodworkers Woodchuck And Co want you to have this wooden ditch digger. It costs $40,000 on Etsy. I think it’s worth it.

Constructed of cherry and walnut, this award-winning piece has over 4000 individual handcrafted parts and requiredover 3000 man-hours to complete, roughly a year and a half's time. Our version of the 5230B is what we call a working model. The track moves, the cylinders extend, the jaws open and close and the entire model pivots on the trackframe. There is also a hidden storage box on board, someplace to keep the keys!

Do not, however, take this into the sandbox.

via Make


iOS 5 Beta Reportedly Sets One Developer’s iPhone Cable Ablaze

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 10:25 AM PDT

Oh, the many woes of being an early adopter in the Beta software world. The software might crash, causing you to lose all your work! It may have gaping security issues, leaving an entry way for malicious misdoers! It may start your stuff on fire! Wait, what?

According to developer Gus Pinto (who sum ups his life in under 140 characters as “Pioneering Mac Desktop Virtualization. iOS, Mac & Android Development”), that last bit is exactly what happened to his iPhone 4 running a Developer Beta build of iOS 5.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch, and Be Cool About Fiiiiiiire Safetyyyy ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sOKsJCe_bw ) >>

DIY Instant Camera, But Not The Kind You’re Imagining

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 09:34 AM PDT

If you’ve been wildly despondent at the death of the Polaroid, there is still hope. This DIY “instant camera” by Niklas Roy uses a simple digital camera and printer to take and print images. Here’s the bad part: the camera has no memory so it prints out the image in front of it line by line for a process that takes three minutes total. That means you have to sit perfectly still for your portrait.

My 'Electronic Instant Camera', is a combination of an analog b/w videocamera and a thermal receipt printer. The device is something in between a Polaroid camera and a digital camera. The camera doesn't store the pictures on film or digital medium, but prints a photo directly on a roll of cheap receipt paper while it is taking it. As this all happens very slow, people have to stay still for about three minutes until a full portrait photo is taken.

The full source code is available here and you can basically recreate this thing with Niklas’ instructions. Amazing, fun stuff.
via Technabob


Apple Patents Surface Describing Conductive Chargeable Stylus

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 09:23 AM PDT

Two Apple patents have just surfaced in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, both of which describe methods for stylus input on a capacitive touchscreen, as well as other surfaces. Now, Apple hearts patenting things, whether the company actually has plans to act on them or not. Many of them end up untouched, and even forgotten, so there's no telling if we'll ever see a super cool Apple stylus, but here's to hoping.

The applications were filed back in January of last year. One describes a stylus that can write on any surface, and then transmit the writing or drawing back to an electronic device like an iPad, or iPhone, we suspect. The other patent relates to a stylus that could potentially have a heated conductive tip, allowing the stylus to charge while snuggled up with the touchscreen device in a storage slot.

[via CNET]

ASUS Eee Pad Slider Will Be Delayed Until Fall

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 08:06 AM PDT


The ASUS Eee Pad Slider, a tablet with sliding keyboard that was supposed to launch in August has been delayed until the Fall, according to the ASUS Facebook Page.

"Eee Pad Slider will be coming to the UK this Autumn" and ASUS will "confirm dates and pricing later in July."

The ASUS Transformer, a tablet with removable keyboard, is selling well even considering the inventory shortages and this one promises to be similarly popular.

via Slashgear


Chanel’s Titanium Ceramic Chromatic Watch Hands-On

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 08:03 AM PDT

In my short years as an ‘aspiring’ watch photographer, few timepieces have truly evaded a good picture as the Chanel J12 Chromatic. The rich universe of hues that emit from Chanel’s new “chromatic” material are more or less impossible to capture in stills – as the colors mix and meld with the light so amazingly. It is a sin to evaluate this watch for yourself seeing it in still images alone.

Read the rest here…

LG Struggles Through First Half Of 2011, Cuts Smartphone Sales Target By 20%

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 08:00 AM PDT

LG has thrown in the towel, as it were, on its original goal to sell 30 million smartphones in 2011. After having delayed the worldwide launch of it's beastly Optimus 3D smartphone, and losing its smartphone boss to Apple's South Korean unit, LG hasn't exactly been thriving. The new goal for 2011 is 24 million smartphone units sold, and overall handset shipments falling between the 114 to 150 million marks.

Read More

Minecraft.Print(): Print Your Minecraft Objects

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 07:09 AM PDT

Minecraft.Print() is a Python script that will convert any in-game object into a printable object. By placing identifier blocks at the corners of the object you can select a certain part of the the environment and then run the script to output it to a 3D printer.

MIT Media Lab researhers Cody Sumter and Jason Boggess built the system and you can see recent prints in their gallery.

The script doesn’t appear to be available for download but heres hoping we can soon all start printing working models of the Starship Enterprise.

The Five Best Things About OS X Lion

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 06:21 AM PDT

If all goes according to rumored plan, OS X Lion should hit stores by July 14 alongside new hardware to run the new OS. I’ve played with the Gold Master over the weekend and I’m pleased to report it is stable and a unique version of OS X, more complete than other, iterative updates like Snow Leopard. I won’t bore you with all the new stuff under the hood but let’s look at a few of the cool new features MacLovers will soon be using on a daily basis.


All My Files View – All My Files is just that – all of your files, ordered by kind, name, date, and modification times. It’s a bit hard to figure out All My Files at first but once you see the utility, it becomes indispensable. You can also organize your own views, selecting files of a certain type that you edited in the past few days or finding all of the disk hogging images on your hard dive. It’s nothing too earth shattering, but it’s useful.


Launchpad – Does that picture remind you of anything? The icons? The little app folders? The little dots at the botton to signify current page? Of all the cues Lion takes from iOS, this spot is most strikingly hints at a future touch interface. Add in four-finger pinch and zoom gestures and you have almost instantaneous access to your apps.


AirDrop – AirDrop is like Dropbox for OS X users. You can see other computers nearby and send them files just by dropping them on their icon. It’s a bit hard to demonstrate it without other Lion users around, but it should be interesting when it starts to work. It will also be an excellent way to send kitten pictures to your co-workers while they’re trying to work.


Mission Control – OS X Lion does away with spaces and instead offers a new four-finger scroll movement that slides between your desktops and Daskboard. Gone is the “Dashboard flying in from outer space effect” and instead Dashboard appears to be another desktop. Mission Control shows a real-time representation of every app currently running and offers instant access to the windows you currently have open.


The New Mail – The new Mail app allows for threaded conversations, a la the iPhone and has a decidedly iPhone-like interface. The Junk Filter changes an email’s color and refuses to download images until you request them and there is a simple, two pane interface (emails and a viewer) that can pop out to a three-pane (a list of accounts appears) interface if needed.

Runner Up… Diskless Install! –
This has to be one of the coolest aspects of the new Lion – a completely DVD-free install. You grab the DMG, mount it, and run the update. A few minutes later you have OS X Lion on your machine. It is a real boon for those running Airs and it makes you feel a little better because you’re helping the environment and not wasting a DVD.

USA Networks’s Covert Affairs TV Show Imagines A Bezeless iPhone (And It’s Awesome!)

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 06:11 AM PDT


Did you catch the second episode of Covert Affairs last month? Yeah, I didn’t either. The iPhone 5 seemed to be featured in the episode, though — or rather a prop designer’s vision of the next iPhone. The video is after the jump, but the pic above clearly shows a (fake) iPhone with edge to edge glass. I like. [via nowhereelse]

Watch The Final Space Shuttle Mission Here (Maybe)

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT


Today, after 133 launches spanning nearly three decades, the era of the Space Shuttle is set to close with one final launch. Atlantis is currently on the launchpad, fueled, loaded with her four man crew and ready to delivery supplies to the ISS. It’s a bittersweet day as an exciting time in the US’s space history comes to a close, but unfortunately due to budget constraints rather than replacement with a new launch vehicle.

The launch is scheduled for 11:26 EDT today, but it might not happen. The weather isn’t cooperating but Launch Director Mike Leinbach told the launch team, “We do have a shot at this today.” If today’s launch is scrubbed, they will try again tomorrow.

NASA has the social media thing down. There are several different venues to follow along. The Ustream feed is embedded after the jump and NASA’s official Twitter feed is understandable active this morning. Xeni Jardin also happens to be on site and is liveblogging the event. Follow her updates here.

It’s all up to the weather now. NASA gave a “Go” to fuel the external tank at 2:01AM this morning despite the weather. Lightning actually stuck near the shuttle last night. Atlantis’s 33rd and final mission will be delayed and given a “No Go” if the weather deteriorates. But the weather won’t stop the inevitable. The final Space Shuttle mission will happen in the next few days.



Free Ustream Facebook app

Video: Panasonic Shows Android-Powered E-Book Reader/Tablet Hybrid

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 04:52 AM PDT

Panasonic is prepping an Android 2.2-powered e-book reader/tablet hybrid [JP] that’s specifically designed for the Japanese market. The device will offer e-books through a store set up by Rakuten, the country’s biggest e-commerce company, with the initial line-up including a total of at least 10,000 titles.

Panasonic says that owners of the device can redeem bonus points they collect through purchasing e-books when buying other items on Rakuten’s marketplace (for example, clothes or food). Rakuten plans to open their e-book store to owners of the Sony e-book reader in the future, too.

The new Panasonic device has a 7-inch LCD touchscreen (1,024×600 resolution), a dual-core CPU (specs TBD), Wi-Fi, a camera (specs TBD), a microSDHC slot, and 16 apps pre-installed (a browser, mail client, Adobe reader, etc.).

Panasonic plans to start rolling out the device in Japan as early as next month (the price is yet to be fixed). In Japan, it will compete with the Sharp Galapagos Android e-book reader.

Our friends from Diginfonews in Tokyo went out and shot this video of the device (it’s in English):

Toshiba Develops Next-Gen CMOS Sensor For Smartphones

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 02:56 AM PDT


Smartphone cameras have drastically improved in quality in recent years, but they’re still not good enough for you? Then Toshiba’s announcement [PDF] of a new CMOS image sensor, specifically designed for cell phones and other mobile devices, from today should be good news for you.

Toshiba says their 8MP/1/4-inch sensor has the smallest pixel size in the industry (1.12 micrometers) and backside illumination for improved light sensitivity and absorption. Cameras using the sensor can shoot video in 1080p/720p format at 30/60fps.

Toshiba plans to offer the first samples to manufacturers this month before starting mass production at the end of this year.

Capcom Announces Resident Evil 15th Anniversary Box

Posted: 08 Jul 2011 02:36 AM PDT

Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) is 15 years old, can you believe it? To commemorate the series’ 15th anniversary, Capcom announced [JP] the so-called Resident Evil 15th Anniversary Box for the Japanese market today.

The set includes the following items:

  • Resident Evil Directors Cut (PS1)
  • Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
  • Resident Evil 3 (PS1)
  • Resident Evil Revival Selection (PS3)
  • Resident Evil 4 soundtrack
  • Resident Evil Code: Veronica soundtrack
  • special Resident Evil pin and sticker set plus original Resident Evil 5 spacer (that game isn’t included in the set)

Definitely of interest for hardcore fans, especially for this price: Capcom plans to start selling the box on September 8 for $95. It will, however, be only available through the company’s Japanese web store.