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May 29

Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash

Push up those Armani shades and tighten your white trousers, the Dustbot is coming to wash the scum off the streets like a Segway riding Travis Bickle. Give him a call from your mobile and the Dustbot will come to your house and dispose of the rubbish. At least that’s the plan for this Italian disposal-bot fitted with GPS navigation, gyroscope, and a bevy of sensors meant to keep it from crushing the innocents. Look, we get that it’s a prototype and is meant to traverse the narrow streets of ancient cities, but a trash collecting robot with the capacity of just two kitchen cans seems like a serious limitation. Watch the long slow ride after the break.

[Thanks, Craig]

Continue reading Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash

Filed under: Robots

Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

A color Kindle is years away, buyers remorse here to stay

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e ink, kindle, Today's Chili

Hey, Kindle 2 owners, remember when Amazon made the device official and you thought: “Well, it took them a year and a half to replace the old one, so I can buy this one without fears of immediate obsolescence.” And then remember how three months later they announced the Kindle DX and you thought: “Oh.” Well, if you’re now fearing a color Kindle will come sauntering along in a few months to make everyone jealous, fear not, as Jeff Bezos is saying the tech is still “multiple years” away, adding “I’ve seen the color displays in the laboratory and I can assure you they’re not ready for prime time.” From the few prototypes we’ve seen we’d tend to agree. So, anyone still on the fence about a Kindle, go ahead and buy now with confidence, as your devices won’t be made to look quaint any time soon — at least until that pizza box-sized reader Amazon’s been working on in secret is announced in July. Did we mention it actually cooks pizza?

Filed under: Handhelds

A color Kindle is years away, buyers remorse here to stay originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 07:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Daily Downloads: Foxit, Stuffit, Cobian, and More

Posted in: Daily Downloads, Today's Chili

This article was written on September 22, 2008 by CyberNet.

Welcome to Daily Downloads brought to you by CyberNet! Periodically throughout the week we bring you software updates for widely used programs, and it’s safe to assume that all the software we list is freeware (we’ll try to note the paid-only programs).

As you browse the Internet during the day, feel free to post the software updates you come across in the comments below so that we can include them the following day!

–Stable Releases–

The software listed here have all been officially released by the developers.

Avant Browser 11.7.12 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: Web browser
Changes: Bug fixes
CDBurnerXP 4.2.1.976 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: CD/DVD burning
Changes: Bug fixes
Cobian Backup 9.1.1.193 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: Backup software
Changes: Bug fixes
Foxit Reader 2.3.3309 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: PDF reader
Changes: Bug fixes
Stuffit Expander 13 [Homepage] [Changelog]
Operating System: Mac only
Type of Application: File extraction
Changes: Preview archives in Time Machine, Expand 7-Zip files, and more
Transmission 1.34 [Homepage] [Changelog]
Operating System: Mac; Linux
Type of Application: BitTorrent client
Changes: Bug fixes
VLC 0.9.2 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows; Mac; Linux
Type of Application: Media player
Changes: Improved interface, enhancements, and bug fixes

–Pre-Releases (Alpha, Beta, etc…)–

The software listed here are pre-releases that may not be ready for everyday usage.

Google Chrome 0.2.149.30 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Release: Beta
Type of Application: Web browser
Changes: Security updates and bug fixes
OpenOffice 3.0 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows; Mac; Linux
Release: Release Candidate 2
Type of Application: Office suite
Changes: Bug fixes
Opera 9.60 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Review]
Operating System: Windows; Mac; Linux
Release: Snapshot
Type of Application: Web browser
Changes: Bug fixes

–Release Calendar–

September 30 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 [Review] ^UPDATED
October 30 – Ubuntu 8.10
December 18 – openSUSE 11.1 [Review]
Late 2008 – Internet Explorer 8 [Review]
Early 2009 – Firefox 3.1 [Review]
2009 – Windows Mobile 7 [Review]
2009 – Paint.NET 4.00 [Review]
January 2010 – Windows 7 [Review]

Related Posts:

May 29

Visit the Canon Camera Museum Today

Posted in: Today's Chili

canon-museum

Today we’re going to recommend that you visit a museum. “Oh, great,” you’re thinking, “that idiot Sorrel is going to start talking about some stupid place down the street from his house. Thanks a lot, Charlie.”

You’re right. But it’s also right down the street from your house. It’s the Canon Camera Museum, and as you can see from the aerial photo above, it’s a handsome place, and better still, the tickets are free. Click on over and you can find out about the dawn of the EOS system (excuse the pun) back in 1987 (I was a teenager with a Saturday job in a camera store back then, and my co-workers took me to the EOS launch to get me drunk and laugh at the result) and the entire history of Canon right back to 1933.

It’s a fascinating way to spend a few hours, or a few minutes, and for once we actually like the fact that it’s a Flash-based site that lets us flip around the campus. Go check it out, and find out such fascinating facts as the meaning of the Canon name (”standard for judgement or biblical scriptures”, weirdly) and the origins of the company’s first product (a Leica clone, showing that the company is proudly built on piracy).

Canon Camera Museum [Canon via Retro Thing]

May 29

Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK

Posted in: netbook, portable, Today's Chili, touchscreen, UMPC

Clevo’s TN70M touchscreen little 7-inch UMPC / netbook has just made its way to the UK, and UMPC Portal’s gotten its hands on some shots of the little guy. The netbook boasts a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, a full QWERTY keyboard, a webcam, and a fingerprint reader, and is available with either XP or Vista operating systems. Clevo — a company better known for its hulking gaming rigs — has been pretty mum on whether the TN70M willl make its way to other shores as of yet, but it’s retailing for about $520, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for you. There’s one more shot after the break!

[Via Slashgear]

Continue reading Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK

Filed under: Laptops

Clevo TN70M UMPC gets checked out in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 06:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Nerd Cushion for Really Simple Sleep

Posted in: household, Today's Chili

rss pillow You can subscribe me to this RSS cushion right away. The best thing about this pillow is that you don’t need to go to bed to get your rest — simply put your head on the iconic orange cushion and any sleep will be delivered right to your brain, as soon as it becomes ready.

This cushion is hand made by Craftsquatch, the person who brought the world the Photoshop Plushie and other soft additions to the Adobe Creative Three Piece Suite, and the 12″x12″ fleece feed icon can be yours for $15. Or at least it can be when Craftsquatch gets around to making another batch: Current stock has sold out.

Product page [Etsy via Geeky Gadgets. Thanks, Roland!]

May 29

Apple Finally Upgrades Terrible MacBook Screens

Posted in: Apple, Displays, LCD, macbook, Today's Chili

macbook-screen-comparison

Apple has secretly upgraded the previously terrible unibody MacBook LCD screen to one that closer matches the pro-level displays in the MacBooks Air and Pro.

Regular Gadget Lab readers will remember that we found the MacBook screen to be somewhat lacking, with a terrible viewing angle and a propensity to send the blacks into a kind of negativity when looking from anywhere but straight on. It seems that Apple wasn’t happy about these panels, either, and has quietly started shipping MacBooks with new screens from AU Optronics, almost the same as those in the Air.

This is good news. My screen is still awful, despite being properly calibrated. It’s bright, colorful and contrasty, but for watching movies and editing photos it sucks. It seems quite wrong that there is such a weird trade-off when buying Apple portables: good or small, but not both. Now, though, it appears that MacBook customers are no longer being punished for choosing portability.

New Macbook Screen 9CA8? [Notebook Review Forums via Computer World]

Photo: thisday/MacRumors

May 29

Alienware’s M17X gaming laptop with twin GTX 280M GPUs truly is all powerful

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, e3, gaming, laptop, NVIDIA, SSD, Today's Chili

The announcement wasn’t scheduled for a few more days — four according to the teaser site — but it looks like Alienware’s All Powerful gaming laptop has been set free anyway. So, does it live up to the clues? Pretty much… how does a pair of 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs strike you? No Core i7 listed, instead we’re looking at a Core 2 Extreme quad-core CPU at the top end with up to 8GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory, and 1TB of 7200-rpm disk or a 512GB SSD if you prefer. RAID 1 or RAID 0? Sure. Rounding things out is a nine-cell battery of unstated performance, FireWire, 4x USB, eSATA, ExpressCard, 802.11n WiFi, 8-in-1 media card reader, dual-layer Blu-ray, a 1920 x 1200 pixel edge-to-edge LCD, DisplayPort and HDMI-outs all wrapped up in a massive chassis weighing 11.68-pounds with a 15.98 x 12.65 x 2.11-inch footprint. It’s also packing a GeForce 9400M G1 GPU with HybridPower technology that allows you to scale the graphics back to conserve battery power. Prices start at $1,799 for a lot less than we mentioned above.

As a footnote to the details above, PCWorld also says that Alienware will use next week’s E3 show to update us on its 42.8-inch curved monitor we went hands-on with back in January of 2008.

[Thanks, Steve]

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Alienware’s M17X gaming laptop with twin GTX 280M GPUs truly is all powerful originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 05:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Snap! Palm Pre Will Sync Seamlessly With iTunes

Posted in: iPhone, itunes, palm pre, Phones, Today's Chili

pre-tunes

According to Fortune’s respectable Apple 2.0 blog, the Palm Pre has a rather sneaky trick up its sleeve. First, a reminder of the main reason for the iPod’s original success: iTunes. The “vertical integration” of iTunes (for organization) and the iPod (for playback) was a killer combo.

In order to work as well, the Pre needs something like iTunes. So what about iTunes itself? That’s the Pre’s trick — it will sync with Apple’s own software. Fortune:

Plug a Pre into a Mac and it syncs, seamlessly, with Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes.

It won’t pick up iPhone applications, of course, or older, Fairplay DRM’ed music, but everything else should just work. The Pre team is full of ex-Apple engineers, so they should certainly know the strings that need to be pulled inside iTunes to get this working.

It does it by faking out iTunes, making the jukebox software think that it is connected to a real iPod. Hook it up and you’ll be given three options: USB mass storage device, charging only or iTunes sync.

This is a ballsy move from Palm, and we totally love it: a big fat middle finger at Apple. Apple will, we are sure, be readying its legal attack dogs as I write, and don’t be at all surprised if an iTunes update pops up around June 6th. This fight just got a lot more interesting.

UPDATE: Here’s the official line from Palm:

Palm media sync is a feature of webOS that synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes, giving you a simple and easy way to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre.(2) Simply connect Pre to your PC or Mac via the USB cable, select “media sync” on the phone, and iTunes will launch on your computer desktop. You can then choose which DRM-free media files to transfer.

Scooplet: the Palm Pre syncs with iTunes [Fortune Apple2.0]

Photoshop job: Charlie Sorrel

May 29

Live Sky TV coming to Xbox 360 in UK and Ireland, hooligan avatars to follow

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, uk, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live, Xbox360, XboxLive

US Americans, go ahead and enjoy your Netflix streaming over your Xbox 360, Brits are about to land a deal that’ll put live football, TV, and films over Microsoft’s broadband-enabled console — a first live television service for Xbox 360 anywhere. Beginning in Autumn, Xbox Live subscribers in the UK and Ireland will gain access to Sky’s Sky Player service that includes subscription-based live, on-demand, and pay-per-view access to your favorite shows without the need for an additional set-top-box or satellite dish. Unfortunately, specifics like prices and channel line-up have not been announced, though content is expected to be similar to the Sky Player service already available on Macs and PCs. Of interest, Xbox Live users will be able to watch sporting content together virtually and sling insults and taunts at one-another via avatars or virtual personas. Something that will lead to slurring songs in a fit of semi-social inebriation or fisticuffs, depending on the score.

Gallery: Live Sky TV coming to Xbox 360 in UK and Ireland, hooligan avatars to follow

[Via Gadgetoid]

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Live Sky TV coming to Xbox 360 in UK and Ireland, hooligan avatars to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 04:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hasta La Gadget!

Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash

A color Kindle is years away, buyers remorse here to stay