This guy named Bill Brown just rendered a hundred cure camera illustrations using Adobe Illustrator. Viewing the gallery on the website he set up should be a last for cam enthusiasts (hey, that rhymed!). Bill Brown doesn't mind random people actually toying with his work so long as he’s given credit. While his motivations are unclear, Bill set out to visually chronicle several species of camera together with their attachments. Is a fun display worth a few moment’s perusal.
Long story short, this new immersive display from Crescent seeks to eradicate the invisible wall separating gamers form their diversion. That’s pretty basic, as the technology for this dates back at least (by our estimates) 20 years. Of course, its latest incarnation as the Immersive Digital Entertainment headgear is quite an attraction. The event pictured below is the 3D & Virtual Reality Exhibition.
Hardly a year after the cassette playing Walkman was finally consigned to oblivion, news has broken out the same fate will be shared by the MiniDisc. In case the MiniDisc never made a difference in your life, don’t fret. Since it’s debut n the early 90s the MiniDisc has only managed to sell 22 million of its kind. That’s a meager sum by Sony’s standards.
It’s called the CATRA System and instead of being tested in a lab, it’s already been embraced by medical professionals to detect cataracts. Cataracts are ugly and have reduced countless human beings’ quality of life. The great thing about the CATRA System is it’s available for all iPhone generations. Oh iPhone, where would modern medicine be without you? The enxt step here would e to make it universal to more smartphones, as the CATRA System could do a world of good to people across the globe.
Cape Canaveral, 11:29 am. A sizable congregation of onlookers were transfixed by the poetic ascension of the last manned shuttle flight. Half an hour short of most employee’s lunch breaks yesterday, the space shuttle Atlantis began its mission to deliver supplies to the ISS. After this, the end of the beginning is final.
Seen below is the BioLite, an exciting new cooking appliance being marketed to campers and rural communities. There are actually two variants of the BioLite, the CampStove and HomeStove. Both are fueled by a moderate amount of natural residue—wood, dung, or husks—which creates enough power to juice a cellphone.
ISP Copyright Crackdown Raises Red Flags Digital rights groups and BitTorrent fans both blast putting copyright protection in the hands of Internet service providers.
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Top 15 Games We Want Ported to Modern Consoles Fueled by retro game nostalgia, the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade release several ports of classic titles. If this trend continues, here's what we want to see ported next.
Can Google+ Really Lead to Greater Online Identity? How will Google's foray into social networking lead to a stable version of identity online, as Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt pushed at a recent event.
10 Replacements for the Space Shuttle Now that the U.S. shuttle program is finished, what's next for manned space filght? How will man reach the stars?
Oracle Disputes Patent Office Ruling UPDATE: Oracle this week filed what is likely the first of several requests that the patent office reconsider its initial rejection of a patent relevant to Oracle's suit against Google.
Why Facebook Pages Will Triumph Over Google+ Business Profiles There seems to be a lot of swooning speculation over Google+ Business Profiles, but Facebook Pages will continue to be the better social media marketing platform for businesses for now.
Privacy Experts Praise Google+ Rollout So Far After major privacy failures in its Buzz and Street View services, Google has hit the right notes with its deliberate, measured roll out of its new Google+...
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Auditors: Army's Huge SAP Project 'at High Risk' The U.S. Army's massive SAP software project is "at high risk" of running further over time and budget, according to a recent report by the Department of...
Everything You Need to Know About 3TB Hard Drives The latest 3TB hard drives pack in the storage, but they're only partially plug and play. Here's what you can expect if you plan on upgrading your system.
PCWorld Reviewers' Favorite Files: June 2011What's appealing in June? According to our reviewers, the same things that catch our attention year-round: system utilities, fun toys, and free stuff. From backup software to a music manager, a powerful PDF reader to a 3D sculpting tool, a CPU temperature monitor to a weather-displaying screensaver, many of June's favorites are freebies.
3DMark Basic 4288 Downloads | Free | Filed Under Benchmarking
This free benchmarking program checks to see if your PC can handle the latest games.
PDF ManagerManage your PDF files; compare PDF files and folders. Search PDF files on your local hard drive or your network. Index your PDF files and search. Convert your PDF files to plain text for use in other applications such as Notepad or Word. (Compatibility: Windows 95/98/ME,Windows NT/2000,Windows XP) Use discount code AKS-RFOE-UNI for 60% off!
PC BoosterAn advanced system optimization and performance-tuning software utility for boosting your computers speed and skyrocketing your systems performance! Special offer for PCWorld: Save 40% this week with discount code PCB40! Make your computer like new again. (Compatibility: Windows XP,Windows Vista,Windows 7)
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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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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):
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.
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.
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If you're a proud owner of the HTC Droid Incredible 2, get ready: your weekend just got a bit sweeter. Android 2.3 Gingerbread is on its way by means of an OTA update, and should bring with it all the goodies of Gingerbread, and then some. The file is 116MB, and according to Verizon, the process should take about 20-30 minutes of your time.
Update enhancements include bug fixes to the Mobile IM and Hotmail sync, a brand-spanking new Download Manager app and Desktop Dock app, improved power management information, enhanced copy function and word selection, and overall improved stability. Most importantly, the update should provide better device connectivity when roaming. Also, if your hip enough to charge your phone sans wires, there will also be a new user interface while charging wirelessly.
We're not sure when exactly the update will begin to roll out, but since Verizon's offered up instructions and update benefits, we're thinking Gingerbread could get here any minute now.
Motorola's Droid 3 is finally out and about in all of its tech spec glory, but one thing's missing: an unlocked bootloader. That's right, Motorola's gone and done it again, locking Droid 3 owners in an Android cage, just like Atrix owners, Droid 2 owners, and the list goes on.
Luckily, an unlocked bootloader is on its way. "As we've communicated, we plan to enable the unlockable/relockable bootloader in future software releases, starting in late 2011, where channel and operator partners will allow it," said a Motorola spokesperson to Wired. Motorola has basically made it clear that your warranty ends once you unlock the bootloader, as many "noobs" have this pesky habit of not following directions and bricking their phones. "If you brick your phone messing with it, we don't want to have to fix it under warranty," wrote a Motorola representative in a blog post.
In short, customers have about had it. One, in particular, started a web page dedicated to ending the bootloader policy at Motorola, asking fellow devs to sign a petition. As of right now, over 10,000 people have signed. While many just leave a name in protest, some Moto customers have actually taken the time to write out their plea.
These are a few we found particularly poignant:
“Please Motorola, we love the phone, but let us use this new technology to it’s fullest potential. We are your beta testers right now in this new world of smart-phones! But we pay a premium price for something that is experimental, and open to development, and we create things with the tools you give us today for a better set of tools for you to sell again tomorrow. And perhaps encrypting the bootloader by default is a good idea for your mass market, but I think you should give us the option of decryption, because well, being open is what Android is all about. That’s why I bought my first Android (the Atrix), and I must say that at this point I wish I researched this common complaint first, as I would have bought something else that was truly an “Android.” So, in all fairness I think you should either give us the option to use and develop our devices as we need to, or at least give us a refund and in the future, use a disclaimer in your advertising.” -Brian
“My money means that this is MY phone. Supposedly, the locked bootloader is intended to protect the enduser from breaking the phone; however, the general public that they are claiming to protect will likely be unaffected by Motorola’s decision. Give the people that want to take time to modify their phones that opportunity. If I wanted to be stuck in a walled garden, then I wouldn’t have bought a supposedly “open” OS with Android.” -Steven Banaban
A bit over 3 years ago, I applied for an internship at CrunchGear on a whim. I didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into.
As luck had it, the powers that be liked my style. I wasn’t even too sure I’d hear back regarding the intern position, so imagine my surprise when they countered with a proper, paying job offer. “MobileCrunch needs a new editor,” they said. “See what you can do with it.”
In those 3 years, MobileCrunch has evolved from a fledgling side project into an integral part of TechCrunch as a whole. Our pageviews have rocketed month after month (we’re pulling in half a day now what we were pulling in a month back then), our readership has grown to the nth degree, and we’ve had a blast at every step along the way.
It’s with excitement, then, that I confirm our next step: we’re becoming a part of TechCrunch proper. Beginning next week, both CrunchGear and MobileCrunch will become sections within TechCrunch (as opposed to separate domains/brands), and both of the old URLs will automatically forward you to our new home on the other side of the street. This is something we’ve been planning for years (at least as long as I’ve been here) and is an idea I’ve been rooting for the entire time.
Now, now, fret not: none of the writers you know and love are going anywhere. It’s the same teams (actually, if all goes as planned, we’ll be growing the teams), with the same voices, opinions, and arguably terrible senses of humor. We’ll just be on a different domain, with a much prettier (and markedly faster!) look. We’ll still kick butt day-in, day-out — we’ll just kick butt from one big, shiny new house. I look forward to seeing you there.
Everybody wants a 4G-capable phone. That's a given. The only issue is that, like all new technology, they cost a pretty penny, especially from good ol' Big Red. As in, way more than we're used to seeing on any smartphone (most high-end handsets cost around $200). Luckily, Target has stepped in to alleviate some of the cost on at least two 4G LTE-capable phones, offering the LG Revolution and the Samsung Droid Charge online for way below what Verizon's asking.
The Revolution currently costs $249.99 on a new two-year contract, and the Droid Charge has a price tag of $299.99 with the same two-year commitment. From Verizon, that is. Over at Target, you can snag the Android 2.2 Froyo-powered Revolution for just $49.99 with a new contract. Yes, you read correctly. You can get the Revolution for $50 and snag a $25 gift card to the Android Market free of charge, by ordering through Target.
The Samsung Droid Charge also gets a price cut from Target, albeit a lesser one than the Revolution. For $149.99, you can buy the Samsung Droid Charge (with a new two-year contract, of course) from Target. That's half what you'll pay over at Big Red, and for the specs on this phone, it's a helluva deal. We're talking a 1Ghz Hummingbird processor underneath Android 2.2 Froyo (upgradable to 2.3 Gingerbread), 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display, and an 8-megapixel camera.
Whether you're renewing a contract or jumping ship to Verizon, if you're interested you should definitely visit Target.com and get the wallet-friendly versions of some of our favorite phones: the LG Revolution and the Samsung Droid Charge.
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.
Early this morning, Gus tweeted out “My charging cable caught on fire while charging my iPhone 4 running iOS5. #fail”, providing the above shot to back up his claim.
Fortunately, the fire didn’t spread much beyond the cable — Gus says he “putted it out” after noticing the “small flames.”
We’ve heard many, many reports of the iOS 5 Beta causing the iPhone 4 to run considerably hotter, but nothing like this. Slightly warmer handsets (or, say, decreased battery life) tend to come with the Beta territory. Be it inefficient code or that someone accidentally commented out a line and disabled some heat fail-safe, it’s just a fairly common occurrence for a Beta OS to run a bit toastier than its fully-certified counterparts. This is definitely the first time we’ve heard of a Beta letting a handset get warm enough to start meltin’ stuff, though.
Now, before you go locking your Beta’d iPhone 4 up in a fire-proof safe and burying it five feet underground: this is almost certainly a bit of a fluke. We’re assuming that at least one or two other things came together to form a sort of perfect storm here, otherwise we’d be hearing a whole lot more complaining from people whose cables went all pyro on them. Maybe the cable was old; maybe there was a defect specific to his device; maybe it was a particularly hot day. Maybe all of the above? None of these are even close to a valid excuse for a cable bursting into flames, of course, but it seems unlikely that iOS 5 was the sole factor at play here — so be a bit cautious, but don’t go dousing your phone in water just yet.
We’d expect that Apple will be in touch with Gus regarding all this sooner than later.
Remember the Motorola Titanium? No? Don’t worry: it’s been over two months since Sprint announced it. That’s, like, a million years in the gadget world.
For those who need a recap (I did!), the Titanium is a super-rugged followup to last year’s i1, so it’s resistant to dust, shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, the opposite sex, low pressure, and solar radiation — oh, and it’s Android-powered.
As is par for the course these days, Sprint made no mention of pricing or a release date in the original announcement. Fortunately, the guys over at SprintFeed got their hands on the flyer up above, which spills all the relevant beans: it’ll go for $150 after contract, and launch on July 24th.
Thus far, LG has sold a little over 10 million smartphones this year, compared to the roughly 19 million Samsung shipped in the second quarter alone. The South-Korea based manufacturer has had trouble competing in an ever-evolving mobile landscape, posting losses for the last five quarters. But LG's handset boss Park Jong-Seok still has hope: "Our overall performance is gradually improving [...] but it's difficult to give a precise prediction when our business will turn around due to a fast changing external market environment."
Happy weekend, everyone! Yes, I know there's still an entire unending work day ahead of us, but Gameloft is looking to start the transition into weekend mode sooner rather than later. Thus, we have Gameloft's crazy "Three4Free" giveaway, where the publisher will give away one Andriod HD+ title for free during a two-hour window each day of this weekend.
There's no telling which games Gameloft will choose for the giveaway, but either way, a free Android HD+ title can't hurt, right? If you agree, you'll have to follow Gameloft's UK Twitter account to keep up with the action. According to the official tweet, the first Android HD+ title will be announced late this afternoon.
I haven't been able to confirm just yet whether or not this promotion is available to us here in the States, or if it's a deal reserved for our friends across the pond. I’m working on getting that update but until then, remember that if you live on this side (West) of the Atlantic, late afternoon in the UK translates to around noonish over here, depending on what Gameloft means by the word "late." In any case, we'll have our eyes peeled for the start of our first two-hour window and you should too. And again, happy weekend!
Verizon announced the next generation DROID smartphone, the new DROID 3 by Motorola featuring a side-slide full QWERTY keyboard. While its predecessor DROID/Milestone and DROID 2/Milestone 2 come with a 4-row keyboard, the new DROID 3 has a 5-row keyboard, adding a dedicated row for numbers. It is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor with 512MB RAM and runs Android 2.3 OS.
The Motorola DROID 3 sports a 4-inch qHD 540×960 touchscreen, a 8 Megapixel camera with auto focus, LED flash and video recording, a front camera for video chat, 16GB onboard memory, GPS/A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, HDMI output and a microSD card slot. Like most modern smartphones, the new DROID is also equipped with Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Proximity sensors. As a global phone, the DROID 3 supports CDMA 800/900MHz, tri-band WCDMA 3G and quad-band GSM networks, allowing customers to enjoy wireless voice and data service in more than 200 countries, including more than 125 with 3G speeds.
The Motorola DROID 3 comes with a 1540mAh battery offering up to 550 minutes of talk time and 300 hours of standby. The enterprise-ready Android device comes pre-loaded with Citrix GoToMeeting for Android that gives users the ability to attend online meetings while on-the-go, and Citrix Receiver for Android, a universal software client that allows companies to deliver corporate apps, desktops and data to any corporate- or employee-owned device. There is also ESP smart dock technology for a tailored experience based on whether DROID 3 is docked in home, office or car settings.
The Motorola DROID 3 is available at Verizon Wireless for $199.99 with a new 2-year contract.
3.5mm, USB 2.0 HS, HDMI, DLNA, OTA, Stereo Bluetooth, Version 2.1+EDR
Display
4-inch qHD (Quarter High Definition) (540 x 960) TFT
Messaging/Web/Apps
MMS, SMS, Email (Corporate Sync, Google Mail, Push Email, Yahoo!® Mail), IM (GTalk™, AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo!® Messenger), WebKit with Flash
Audio
AAC, AAC+, AAC+ Enhanced, AMR NB, AMR WB, MIDI, MP3, WAV, WMA v9/v10, OGG
Video
Capture/Playback/Streaming, HD video, Video-C/P 30fps, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, WMV v9/v10
Camera
8-megapixel, VGA P2P video, 8x digital zoom, AF, LED
Storage
16GB on-board memory, microSD card slot for up to an additional 32GB
Memory
512MB RAM x 16GB eMMC
Form Factor
Touch QWERTY Slider
Sensors
Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Proximity
Address Book/Calendar
Facebook®, MySpace, TwitterTM and GmailTM messages and contacts aggregation as well as syncs and merges your work contacts, email and calendar
Maxell launchesin the USA its maxsound SSB-1 soundbar speaker with a small, streamlined design that is ideal to be used with small HDTVs. It can hold up to 55 pounds on top. The maxsound is a 2.1-channel soundbar with built-in subwoofer offering 7.5Wx2 + 15W output. It includes Dynamic Balance Control for better sound output.
The Maxell maxsound features two 3.5mm inputs for connecting audio sources such as HDTV, desktop/laptop computer, smartphone, MP3 player/PMP..etc. It measures 25.6″ x 10.35″ x 12.48″ and weighs 1.45 pounds.
iLuv announced a new speaker dock for iOS devices, the iMM727 ArtStation with a versatile mount that tilts and rotates. As you dock your iPad, the whole ArtStation will look like an all-in-one PC. The iMM727 includes the jAura sound technology to deliver “studio quality” sound.
iLuv’s ArtStation can be used with the free iLuv app for enhanced functionalities that will turn the device speaker dock into an an internet radio with over 40,000 stations, interactive time display, alarm clock, weather source. The iMM727 works not only with iPad, but also with iPhone and iPod. It comes with a remote control.
InFocus launches its new IN100 series, which are the company’s lowest priced projectors. The five new models, the IN112, IN114, IN116, IN124 and IN126, join the IN146 to complete the range. The IN112 features 800×600 SVGA resolution, while the IN114 and IN126 offer 1024×768 XGA resolution. The IN116 and IN126 have 1280X800 WXGA resolution.
All these IN100 series DLP projectors feature 3000:1 contrast ratio, 3D capability, closed captioning, built-in 1Wx2 stereo speaker. They provide Presentation, Video, Bright, Whiteboard, Blackboard, Beige Wall projection presets. These projectors provide HDMI 1.3 (except IN112 and IN114), D-sub, composite, S-video inputs as well as RS232 control port, USB port and 3.5mm audio jacks.
Pioneer introduces two new speaker sytems, the USB-powered 2.0-channel S-MM301 and the 2.1-channel S-MM751RU, designed for for music lovers who want a higher level audio experience from their computer, whether it's from a laptop, or a home computer.
The S-MM301 is a USB-powered 2.0-channel speaker that gets it power via USB port, eliminating the need for a bulky, separate AC adapter. It features triple coil drivers to deliver big and dynamic sound, and built-in audio controls including a volume up and down button and mute button for convenient plug-and-play use. You can also find metal grills to help protect the drivers from damage during travel.
Pioneer S-MM751RU
The S-MM751RU, on the other hand, is a 2.1-channel speaker system that delivers a full-spectrum audio experience with its integrated satellite speakers and subwoofer enclosure. It utilizes the MAXX Bass Dynamic Sound with DSP Bass Enhancement to increase dynamic range, resulting in a rich and enjoyable listening experience. The system includes a unique hockey puck-shaped controller that features a volume knob and playback controls (play/pause/rewind/forward), as well as SD card slot, USB port and line-in audio input for music playback from other sources.
The Pioneer S-MM301 is available for $49 and the S-MM751RU for $129.
The awful news is they come in two variants: 5 and 6 dpi. A creation by a Belarusian designer, the pixelated sunglasses look retro for their conspicuous lack of ergonomics. This means they probably won’t match most outfits today and wearing these compels you to dig up old clothes in your neighbor’s closet.
Our consumer society shares a special relationship with germs. The invisible microorganisms are the arch-villain for many a product, e it bathing soap to hand sanitizers. Somehow, germs are pure evil—and they are. But this is too much of a blanket statement. As a recent article here at Geeky Gadgets pointed out, bacteria actually help strengthen our immune systems over time. But is anyone listening?
Sure, the Japanese just love consumer items; the cuter the packaging the better. But this newfangled cooling gel borders on the utterly strange. Cooling gel seems to be a growing trend in Japan, especially for the male demographic. It’s geeky as hell for sure, ut does anyone wonder about the chemicals they’re exposing themselves to?
What’s that? Soviet space shuttles were supposed t deliver nuclear missiles? This from an ISS veteran and cosmonaut who shares the straight dope on the late USSR’s impressive shuttle effort, the Buran. Cursory research indicates that the Buran was tested once in 1988 and was far more advanced than some Western observers were willing to admit. For starters, it was completely unmanned and managed to orbit the Earth twice before a flawless landing. But that’s not all.
In case you missed the news, Tumblr is one the largest free blogging platforms a round. So huge, in fact, it produces enough content to rival more established platforms like WordPress. Small wonder then that corporations are hopping aboard to make their brand more visible. But amid all the hoopla, General Electric has produced a special log-type exhibit of all its hardware. Judging by the below, the pictures are impressive.
As if further proof of how viable bacteria are is necessary. Bacteria are the true masters of this world. If they weren’t, then how come so many varieties of consumer products claim they can exterminate them? Anyway, this particular story should be valuable to bacteria nerds in particular and U.S. Navy nuts in general. Apparently a recent experiment off the coast of Thailand sought to prove the usefulness of harnessing bacterial gas.
If you were a fan of Planetside the massively multiplayer first person shooter which was originally launched back in 2003 by Sony Online Entertainment. You might be pleased to know that Sony have been hard at work creating a sequel to the popular game and has today released a first glimpse trailer of their new Planetside 2 game, which was code named ‘Planetside Next’ whilst under development.
As you can see from the images below the graphics have had a big make over to bring them more up to date lets hope the gameplay is as good as the original.
The have seen a number of Android smartphones being overclocked over the last few months, the latest one is the new HTC EVO 3D, and it was overclocked by Michael Huang from the XDA Developers.
Have a look at the video of it in action below, Michael is also working to make the overclock work on the new HTC Sensation, and all he needs to do to get it running is a few minor tweaks.
A team at the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering have been developing a new type of technology which combines sensors and antennas that can be created on paper using inkjet technology to scavenge energy to power small electronic devices.
The paper based sensors and antennas are then combined to create an energy scavenging system which can take advantage of FM radio to radar, a range of 100 Mhz to 15 GHz or higher. Capturing the energy and converting it from AC to DC which it can then store in batteries.
The Canon DSLR Camera bank is a money box which is designed to look like a Canon DSLR, and there are a couple of different versions available with different sized lenses, which can store more of your hard earned cash with the larger lens versions.
If you have been a little disappointed that the super fast text input application Swype has only been available on Android phones you might be please to hear that a beta version of the application has now been ported on to a jailbroken iPhone.
However the port on to the jailbroken iPhone has left behind a few cool features, including the absence of the blue tracer line which appears as you drag your finger from letter to letter. Watch a video of the Swype application running on iOS after the jump.
Panasonic has shown off an Android based eBook tablet at the e-Book expo in Tokyo, and it features a 7 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1,024 pixels by 600 pixels.
The Panasonic eBook comes with a dual core processor, plus a built in camera, and a microSD card slot, although these are not the final specifications, which will be revealed closer to its actual release.
When shuttle Atlantis launches from the Kennedy Space Center later today it will mark the last Space Shuttle flight and no longer with the flight deck be graced with astronauts. If you are interested in seeing just how many switches, dials and screens are packed into the flight deck of a shuttle Vr360 has put together an image that you can explore in detail, by zooming in and out and panning around in glorious full 360 degree’s.
The last thing we heard about the new Asus Eee Pad Slider was that it would go on sale in August, and now it looks like it has been delayed until later in the year and will go on sale in the UK this Autumn.
Asus just announced this on their Facebook page, and they have said that they will announce the exact launch date and pricing of the EeePad Slider later this month.
We know that Google will be releasing a new version of Android for tablets shortly, Android 3.2 Honeycomb, which is supposed to bring Honeycomb to 7 inch tablets as well as other sized tablets.
It looks like the Motorola Xoom may be getting the Android 3.2 Honeycomb update shortly, and the update may be released as an OTA update over the next few days according to the guys over at Android Central.
Bioware and EA have today announced that a new DLC for their Dragon Age 2: Legacy game will be arriving on July 26th. The download will be the first new content for the sequel to Dragon Age and lets hope that this new DLC doesn’t repeat the map layouts and wall skins like the game did on launch.
The new DLC content will take you out of Kirkwall and on to adventures within the Vimmark Mountains, and will include a new class-specific weapon, more achievements and the opportunity to encounter an ancient horror, according to Bioware.
We have featured a number of fantastic Space Invader gadgets and devices here on Geeky Gadgets such as the Space Invader watch. But a tiny version of the Space Invader game complete with mini gaming cabinet has been built, which measures just 7″ x 3.5″ x 4.5″ in size.
The tiny Space Invaders cabinet is fitted with a fully working tiny joystick and buttons and has been created from the internal workings of a Game Boy Advanced SP. Which allows it to also play other games using the relavent GBA SP cartridge. Watch the video after the launch to see this amazing little cabinet in action.
Google are always experimenting with new innovations within their products and this week they have rolled out a new YouTube experiment called the Cosmic Panada. The new update named Cosmic Panada has been created to help make your YouTube experience a little slicker allowing you to control the layout and style of your viewing experience within YouTube.
YouTube’s Cosmic Panda interface loses the white background and replaces it with a much darker grey background to reduce the contrast with the videos and enables a much more intuitive way to search arrange and watch your channels. Videos are now available in three sizes rather than two, together with a full screen option.
We are still waiting to find out when Apple will release Mac OS X Lion, we had heard it would be this week, but now it looks like it may launch next week, possibly the 14th of July and we may also see the new 2011 MacBook Air’s next week.
According to the guys over at 9 to 5 Mac, Apple has some ‘overnights’ for its stores planned for the 13th of July, they usually refresh store display to get ready for a new product launch the following day during these ‘overnights’ so they could be getting ready to release OS X Lion on the 14th of July.
We have featured quite a few steampunk inspired USB drives here at Geeky Gadgets, the latest one is the creation of Tarator from Russia, and it is probably one of the coolest USB drives we have seen.
As you can see from the photos below, this awesome steampunk USB drive features a 5 wheel combination lock, it was designed using AutoCAD software and then all the parts were individually machined and assembled.
Kyle McDonald a Brooklyn based artist had an idea for a new project, his idea was that he would install software on the computers in various Apple stores, and then capture pictures of how people actually look at the computers when they are using them.
Kyle’s project is called People Staring At Computers, and he spent 3 days in June capturing people’s expressions using the computers in Apple stores and then published the photos on the Internet and created video which you can see below.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc has been available in Europe for a while now, and Sony Ericsson has just released it in the US, it is available SIM free for $599.99 and it comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
The Xperia Arc features a 4.2 inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels, and processing is provided by a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, there is also 512MB of RAM.
We have been hearing rumors that Apple will launch an iPad 3 later on in the year, there is just one problem with this, they only just recently launched the iPad 2, so the iPad 3 would need to be different in terms of both its name and who it has been designed for, so that Apple can sell it alongside the existing iPad 2.
I mentioned back in June that if Apple did launch the iPad 3, they would probably call it the iPad HD and that it would feature a higher resolution display than the existing iPad 2, and now there is a report from This Is My Next, that Apple will be launching the iPad HD this fall.
BlueAnt makes some really cool Bluetooth gear that needs no wires for making calls and for listening to music. I always think of wireless Bluetooth gear when I hear the company name. BlueAnt makes some wired headphones too and it has added a new set to its line called the Embrace.
Apple Loses 'App Store' Legal Action Against Amazon Apple has lost a legal bid to stop Amazon using the phrase 'App Store' to describe an online download store offering software for devices running Google Android...
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Where to Watch the Last Space Shuttle Launch Online You don't have time to get to the Kennedy Space Center, but you can still view the launch. Here's the scoop on streaming video, NASA TV, smartphone apps and more regarding this historic event.
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Anonymous Eyes Political Role, but Won't Go Legit Hacker group Anonymous plans to promote an affiliated political party to attract people who share its civil liberties goals, but do not agree with its methods.
Activism and Lulz Motivate Latest Rash of Hacks Experts used to think that most modern hacking would be driven by efforts to make money. But 2011 has seen a resurgence of attacks motivated by ideology or thrill-seeking.
A Google+ Love Fest Displayed in Fan Memes Google's new social network, Google+, is drumming up a lot of Internet enthusiasm--and disdain for the reigning monarch of the genre: Facebook. Take a look at how the memes are multiplying.
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Users Weigh in on Google+ Some with early access seem truly excited, but quite a few are either skeptical or dismissive of its impact in social networking.
ISPs Fight Piracy: Meet the Six Strikes New policy gives the entertainment industry a hotline to ISPs and a checklist for cracking down on alleged copyright infringement.
And the Killer Smartphone App Is...Games! If workers at your company insist they need you to buy them the latest smartphone, think twice about what they'll use it for.
Apple Loses 'App Store' Legal Action Against Amazon Apple has lost a legal bid to stop Amazon using the phrase 'App Store' to describe an online download store offering software for devices running Google Android...
Everything You Need to Know About 3TB Hard Drives The latest 3TB hard drives pack in the storage, but they're only partially plug and play. Here's what you can expect if you plan on upgrading your system.
PCWorld Reviewers' Favorite Files: June 2011What's appealing in June? According to our reviewers, the same things that catch our attention year-round: system utilities, fun toys, and free stuff. From backup software to a music manager, a powerful PDF reader to a 3D sculpting tool, a CPU temperature monitor to a weather-displaying screensaver, many of June's favorites are freebies.
PDF ManagerManage your PDF files; compare PDF files and folders. Search PDF files on your local hard drive or your network. Index your PDF files and search. Convert your PDF files to plain text for use in other applications such as Notepad or Word. (Compatibility: Windows 95/98/ME,Windows NT/2000,Windows XP) Use discount code AKS-RFOE-UNI for 60% off!
PC BoosterAn advanced system optimization and performance-tuning software utility for boosting your computers speed and skyrocketing your systems performance! Special offer for PCWorld: Save 40% this week with discount code PCB40! Make your computer like new again. (Compatibility: Windows XP,Windows Vista,Windows 7)
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Popular European streaming music service Spotify could launch in the U.S. as soon as next week, AllThingsD's Peter Kafka speculates. Spotify announced earlier this week that it would be taking its tal...
One of the most important features Apple announced at WWDC 2011 was iMessage. It's not only a direct competitor to Research In Motion's extremely popular BlackBerry Messenger service, but could serv...
Apple has started to ask Apple Store employees to prepare for an "overnight" shift on July 13th — a sign that the company is prepping a new release of some sort on the next day, 9to5 Mac said. Appl...
According to a new report from DigiTimes, Amazon is expected to ship a "conservative" 1-1.2 million of its new tablets during the third quarter — a time frame that's in line with earlier reports tha...
On Thursday LG's Park Jong Seok, head of the mobile phone business, announced that his company is cutting its full-year smartphone sales forecast by 20% and now expects to sell 24 million smartphones ...
On Thursday, Rogers and Ericsson officially activated the first Canadian 4G LTE network in Ottawa. "This network will power the next generation of innovative products and services in ways we've never ...
A leak document picked up by SprintFeed suggests that Sprint will launch the Motorola Titanium, an Android smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard, on July 24th for $149.99. The Titanium is no secret a...
Microsoft is prepping to release a Windows 8 preview build during its Worldwide Partner Conference on July 11th, according WinRumors. Reportedly, the Redmond-based firm will "detail Windows 8 substant...
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MeeGo, once a highly anticipated OS intended to go head to head with iOS and Android, now finds itself on just one phone, and although it hasn’t been said outright, it seems unlikely there will be many more — if any at all. Still, those of you rocking MeeGo's only host, the Nokia N9, are "not to worry." OS updates and hardware support are still on the table.
Klas Strom, Nokia's head of portfolio management in marketing, today tweeted, "We will support #NokiaN9 for years AND release several SW updates… #nottoworry :)."
Where have we seen this video before? It was released today, but is still… oddly familiar.
Oh, that's right, it was leaked about a month ago, and then abruptly pulled by Motorola. The star of the show, Motorola's Droid 3, made its way onto the market this morning, officially going live on Verizon's site for $199.99 on a two-year agreement. Motorola then graciously re-posted the tutorial video, along with a truck load of other helpful videos to help you get acquainted with Motorola's third-gen Droid.
We’ve pulled together a few of the videos we found most interesting (including one detailing the new media gallery with social media integration we mentioned earlier), but click through to the YouTube channel below to check out a treasure chest of Droid 3 footage. Topics include texting, using the media gallery, video recording, browsing the web, and more.
When it comes to Swype and their crazy drag-through-letters-to-type alternative keyboard of the same name, there’s only one problem: it’s really, really tough to give up once you’ve gotten used to it. Alas, I’ve gotta deal with the withdrawal symptoms each and every time I jump from an Android device back to my iPhone, due to restrictions inherent to iOS.
While Swype was purportedly working on something for iOS in June of last year (and, as the rumor mill had it, trying to convince Apple to make it official) all word of it went silent pretty quickly.
The mission has been revived, it seems, albeit with someone else behind the charge: Andrew Liu, developer of the “DreamBoard” theming hack for jailbroken devices, has begun to “port” Swype to iOS.
As you may have guessed from all this talk of Cydia (and the fact that it involves modifying the iPhone’s keyboard), your device will need to be jailbroken.
A number of behaviors that Android Swypers will have grown accustomed to (such as the blue line that is drawn from letter to letter as you trace) aren’t implemented yet. This is the first release, and is pretty barebones.
The hacked keyboard currently only functions in Apple’s pre-installed applications and a very small handful of third party apps. Liu says he’s working on a fix for this.
It’s a bit buggy, as is to be expected from a first release
We put “port” up above in quotes, by the way, as it’s not quite clear how much of this is actually Swype and how much is from-scratch code written to recreate Swype’s behaviors. While Andrew is calling the project Swype (which… probably isn’t the best idea, in the long run), it also seems like a lot of it is being built from the ground up rather than ported from one platform to the other.
The guys over at iPhone Download Blog threw together a quick video demonstrating the psuedo-Swype running on iOS. Check it out below:
Well, you can now that this crazy iPhone SLR Lens mounting kit exists.
Sure, the tiny sensor in your iPhone can’t really take advantage of all of the benefits of a high quality lens — and sure, the size difference between a kit with an iPhone and a kit with a proper body is relatively small once you’ve brought any decent-sized lens into the picture.. but hey, lets see your SLR upload your awesome Desert Safari pictures to Dropbox with nothing but an EDGE connection and a prayer.
The lens mount comes in two flavors: one for Canon EOS lenses, and one for Nikon tubes. Both can be found for the sticker-shock-tastic price of $190 $249 over at Photojojo.
If you’ve been just dying to blast out some tweets from the official BlackBerry Twitter client but were afraid that the Beta client might make your handset explode or something, two things: 1) You’re kind of a strange one, and 2) It’s go time!
This morning, Twitter for BlackBerry had its Beta tag peeled off, and it was bumped from the BlackBerry App World (BlAppWorld!) Beta Zone into the full-fledged store. This Beta-less build doesn’t bring a whole lot in terms of new stuff (the biggest features are things like color tweaks, a modification to how you access the Tweet Composition window, and local trends support in the Trending Topics screen), but hey — at least you absolutely know it won’t make your handset explode. Hopefully.
Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who is presiding over the Amazon-Apple "app store" war, certainly meant it when she said she would "probably" reject Apple's request for a preliminary injunction. And that's exactly what she did. Hamilton earlier referred to Apple's proof as a "stumbling block" in its case against Amazon, noting that there isn't much "evidence of confusion" between the two stores. In an 18-page order, Hamilton explains that Apple has not proven that its App Store is "prominent" and "renowned," which I guess it has to be in order achieve the status necessary for shutting down Amazon's Appstore for Android.
The judge also remarked that the term "app store" is used by other companies as a generic term for a place to buy software and apps – basically the equivalent of the term "grocery store" being used by Kroger's, Albertson's, Piggly Wiggly, etc.. That's a pretty big blow to Apple's argument, which hinged on the notion that companies such as Microsoft and Google had circumvented the term "app store," opting for more original names like Windows Marketplace and Android Market.
It's a bit sad since Apple did coin the term exclusively back when the store launched, just over three years ago. Since then, Hamilton explains, other companies have started to use the term more generically. The judge also noted that there's a lack of evidence to suggest that Amazon purposefully used "app store" to create an association between the two stores. She even went so far as to say that there is no evidence of an association at all, which is kind of mind-blowing, since the stores do share a name.
On the other hand, you'd have to be pretty new to the smartphone scene to try and download an Android app onto your iPhone. But there are people out there who will, surprisingly enough, and Apple knows this, which is why the tech giant tried to trademark the term back in 2008. Microsoft stepped in at that point and opposed the motion, a move that many people found curiously petty during the massive PC vs. Mac showdown.
Microsoft called the term generic then, and Amazon has done the same now quite successfully. Amazon claims that its use of the term "app store" is not as a trademark, but rather a way of informing customers that the site they're visiting is, in fact, a place to download apps. Since this motion was for a preliminary injunction, Apple will get another shot to make its case in a little over a year at a trial set for October 15, 2012.
Even though Verizon tried to pull a fast one on us by skipping pre-order altogether, we were still accurate when we originally pegged the Droid 3 arrival for today, July 7. That's right folks, the Motorola Droid 3 is available now from Verizon, and she's a beauty. Big red lists the phone for $459.99 off-contract, and $199.99 with a new or upgraded two-year contract.
We've finally gotten our hands on the official specs sheet, and just about everything we earlier reported is present and accounted for, and then some. That 4-inch qHD touchscreen boasts a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, and the phone itself measures in at 2.5in x 4.9in x .5in and weighs just 5.9oz. The Droid 3 runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a dual-core 1GHz processor and comes loaded with the newest version of Motorola's Blur UI, along with 16GB of internal storage.
Interestingly enough, the 8-megapixel camera comes with an option to "select your masterpiece from multiple frames snapped within seconds." That sounds a lot like the myTouch 4G Slide's camera, which collects frames in a cache before the shutter button is ever pushed. That way, there is no lag between touching the button and snapping the shot. The Droid 3 camera may not have the same exact software or system in place, but that sentence leads me to believe that camera lag has at least been improved.
The camera's Connected Gallery also hooks in to your favorite social networks, including Facebook, Photobucket, Flickr, Picasa, and others, so you can check out comments and aggregate all your pictures into one "connected" gallery.
Super Talent introduces its new USB 3.0 Express RC8, a USB 3.0 flash drive equipped with SandForce’s SSD processor. The introduction of the SandForce processor into a USB 3.0 flash drive brings a host of advanced features traditionally only found in first tier SSD products. The RC8 features an 8-channel archittecture and virtual caching system to deliver high data transfer speeds of up to 270MB/s read and 220MB/s write.
With SandForce’s controller, you can also find DuraClass technology and DuraWrite technology on the USB 3.0 Express RC8, which together enhances both flash durability and data integrity. The USB 3.0 flash drive is available in 25GB, 50GB and 100GB capacities.
In addition to the DuraDrive AT3 SSDs for harsh environment, Super Talent also brings the new TeraDrive PT3 SATA 3.0 solid state drive. The new PT3 features SandForce 2200 SSD controller as well as Double Data Rate, ONFiTM flash to offer “a significant leap in performance over drives offered just a few months ago”.
The TeraDrive PT3 comes in 60GB, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB densities. It breaks the 500MB/s barrier in both Read and Write scores.
Super Talent launches the DuraDrive AT3 series solid state drives for demanding industrial environments. The new drives has been designed to withstand operating temperatures from — 40°C -> +85°C and can be used on in-vehicle infotainment systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, and manufacturing environments.
The 2.5-inch DuraDrive AT3 is available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. The MLC-based SSDs use SATA II interface and has 128MB cache memory. You can expect up to 250MB/s read and 170MB/s write speeds.
Soundfreaq launches the Sound Platform SFQ-01 Bluetooth wireless speaker with built-in docking station for iPhone/iPod. The speaker is equipped with two 2.75-inch Kevlar-reinforced balanced full range drivers and features dual chamber ports and UQ3 Spatial Sound Enhancement. The Sound Platform supports Bluetooth 2.0+EDR with A2DP profile for streaming music from Bluetooth-enabled devices, including iPhone and iPad, Android phone and Blackberry phones.
Like the company’s Sound Step, the Sound Platform offers four ways to enjoy music – Bluetooth streaming, iPod/iPhone dock, AUX input for connecting audio devices with standard headphone jack and FM radio. The Sound Platform works with the Soundfreaq Remote app, which turns iPhone, iPad and iPhone into a full remote control for the speaker.
Sharkoon launches a new mid-tower ATX PC chassis, the Vaya. The new case offers four 5.25-inch drive bays, four 3.5-inch internal drive bay, one 3.5-inch mounting bay and seven slots for add-on cards. The Vaya’s front panel has two USB 2.0 ports and audio jacks.
Sharkoon Vaya features mesh air inlet one front panel and black interior painting. It provides quick fasteners for optical drives and hard drives. The case comes pre-installed with one 120mm LED fan on the front and has two openings for water cooling.
Synology introduces its DiskStation DS2411+, a 12-bay NAS server with up to 36TB internal storage capacity designed for enterprise users. While the DS2411+ itself has 12 drive bays to offer up to 36TB capacity, it can be paired with Synology DX1211, expanding total storage capacity to 72TB. Data throughput can be ensured with an InfiniBand cable that carries 12Gb/sec SATA signal when bridging a connection.
The DiskStation DS2411+ is powered by a dual-core 1.8GHz processor with 1GB of DDR2 memory. It supports 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch SATA I/II hard drives. With comprehensive iSCSI support, the DS2411+ can be seamlessly integrated with major virtualization solutions, including VMware vSphere, Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V. In addition, the DS2411+ fits in a business environment easily with Windows ADS and ACL support.
The DS2411+ is powered by DiskStation Manager 3.1 (DSM 3.1). It provides two Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. You can use the DS2411+ as a web server, FTP server, Surveillance Station, iTunes Music server, DLNA/UPnP media server as well as photo station, audio station and print server.
OS X Lion and (probably) updated Macbooks Air (Macbook Airs?) should arrive on July 14, according to 9to5′s spies. Apple is holding an “overnight” on July 13 where they will train employees on the new hardware and, as we all know, OS X Lion has hit gold master and should, as predicted, arrive on time.
After discontinuing the production of cassette Walkmans last year, Sony is now about to kill another one of their original inventions: the MiniDisc Walkman. And as Japanese business daily The Nikkei is reporting today, Sony plans to pull the plug on the production as early as this September – obviously because nobody is buying MiniDisc Walkmans anymore.
The first MiniDisc Walkman was introduced on the Japanese market in 1992 (13 years after the first cassette Walkman), but MiniDiscs never really gained a foothold outside Japan. The picture shows that first MiniDisc Walkman, the Sony MZ1.
Worldwide, Sony managed to sell 22 million MiniDiscs through March this year. Sony will continue producing the discs themselves after September and also plans to keep offering CD Walkmans.
Once again, an example of how Steampunk can actually be pulled off. This one-off flash drive was created by a Russian guy, who modeled it in 3D, had the components cast or printed, and then assembled it himself (you can see the whole project here). The wheels spin and lock or unlock the drive, which slides out a la one of the rugged drives I reviewed a while back.
Very cool. This man needs an Etsy store! Wait, is this thing old? Whatever.
If you haven’t ever played the game, I’d actually recommend playing it the way it’s meant to be played first (there are ports available and the game is free), but if you don’t mind the tablet controls, this should be a real treat. This is just Marathon 1 – I’d expect 2 and Infinity a little later.
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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 
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.
Two 
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.
If all goes according to rumored plan, OS X Lion should hit stores 
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OS X Lion and (probably) updated Macbooks Air (Macbook Airs?) should arrive on July 14, according to 
Just a quick heads-up: that 
