(Credit: The Architects’ Journal)You’d think an article written for an architectural journal about architects deconstructing video game levels would be boring. But you’d be wrong. Even if you’re not an art nerd (I am, now), this short but sweet article in The Architects’ Journal gives a …
A million downloads, impressive. Even more so when you consider that fewer than 30 applications were available for download from the App Catalog to a single device (the Pre) available only on the number 3 carrier (Sprint) in the US. Unfortunately, Palm’s not offering any official numbers — the figure comes via industry analysts who suggest 150,000 Pre devices shipped since the June 6th retail introduction for an average of about seven apps downloaded per phone. Imagine the numbers had Palm’s SDK been ready prior to launch.
[Via NY Times Blog]
Palm App Catalog sees 1 million downloads to 150,000 Pre owners originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Not that we haven’t seen this trick pulled before, but there’s still something magical about the forthcoming Aquasar. Said supercomputer, which will feature two IBM BladeCenter servers in each rack, should be completed by 2010 and reach a top speed of ten teraflops. Such a number pales in comparison to the likes of IBM’s Roadrunner, but it’s the energy factor here that makes it a star. If all goes well, this machine will suck down just 10KW of energy, while the average power consumption of a supercomputer in the top 500 list is 257KW. The secret lies in the new approach to chip-level water cooling, which will utilize a “fine network of capillaries” to bring the water dangerously close to the processors without actually frying any silicon. While it’s crunching numbers, waste heat will also be channeled throughout the heating system at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, giving students and dorm room crashers a good feel for the usefulness of recycled warmth.
Filed under: Desktops
Water-cooled Aquasar supercomputer does math, heats dorm rooms originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Poor Pentax. The company puts out great cameras, but they suffer from an image problem. A public image problem. Pentax makes the sensible but dull cameras none of the cool kids want. Which is a shame as the new Optio W80 is a camera that only the cool kids will need.
The 12 megapixel W80 is rugged, with a capital arrrrr. Cold-proof (14ºF), waterproof (16 feet) and drop-proof (three feet), it is designed for outdoor and sporty use, and the features are cleverly tuned to this purpose. Auto-macro and auto-ISO shift (up to 6400, although the pixel count then drops to 5MP) are dead handy for shooting underwater. Face detecting auto-focus and shake reduction help, too (the anti-shake is actually done at the processor level instead of using a moving sensor). And the ability to shoot two hours of HD video underwater is surely a winner.
In fact, the only thing that doesn’t seem to fit the outdoor lifestyle is the LCD screen. Pentax tells us that it is “large”, but 2.5″, although fine, is not “large” anymore. And the 230,000 dot-count looks a little low (and a little fuzzy) in these days of 900,000+ pixel screens.
Then there are the gimmicks, some good and some just, well, gimmicky. An AF assist lamp is certainly useful and the Digital Wide mode stitches two pictures together to make a snap from the equivalent of a 21mm lens (the real zoom range is 28-140mm, 35mm equivalent). Less important is the Decorative Frame mode which can put some frilly edges on your extreme gliding pictures. The very best part though is the name of Pentax’s PC software: ACDSee. Genius.
The W80 will cost $300, and looks to be a very capable camera, wrapped in a tough body. The trouble is… well, look at it. That’s camera design circa 1982, and not in a good way.
Product page [Pentax. Thanks, Martin!]
When does a disposable barbecue grill, with toss-away tray, rack and stand, become an eco-friendly, recyclable barbecue grill? When the PR people say so, that’s when. The trouble with anything recyclable is that the user needs to actually recycle it and, if we know people, the EZ Grill will be tossed in the trash after its single-serve use.
That’s not to say these disposable cookers aren’t handy. I have used something similar many times, and they’re perfect to pick up from a supermarket along with some food for an instant BBQ picnic. The EZ Grill consists of an aluminum tray, wire legs (so it doesn’t scorch the grass) and of course a grill top. The charcoal comes under a lighting sheet (the UK versions I have used have the charcoal in an ignitable bag.)
And the charcoal is the one true “green” part here. Instead of burning hardwood, you’ll be burning carbon from corn, wheat and rice stalks, bound with corn starch. Icky sounding maybe, but a lot better than the glued-together briquettes you usually buy.
The grill costs $5 or $10, depending on size. Or you could do what I do, and take an old $0.99 turkey roasting tin and a shelf from the oven out on the trip with you.
Product page [EZGrill. Thanks, Jenny!]
When it comes to claims of being the world’s first or fastest, there’s a big difference between announcing product and actually delivering it for retail. So let’s be clear, SanDisk might be announcing the world’s fastest 32GB SDHC card today, but it won’t be shipping until August. It’s not even the first 32GB class 10 SDHC card announced since Panasonic did its unveiling more than a month ago — and this is where SanDisk’s speed claims get confusing. That “class 10” logo is supposed to be a standard means of identify the card’s speed as rated by the SD Association. Yet SanDisk claims a max read/write speed of 30MBps whereas Panasonic claims a max of just 22MBps. Guess we’ll have to see head-to-head benchmarks to know the truth. Regardless, it is fast and that makes it suitable for capturing 160 minutes of full HD (1920×1080 pixels) video recorded at 24Mbps.
Filed under: Storage
SanDisk’s 32GB class 10 SDHC card competes for world’s fastest originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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After all the cases of benign apps being rejected on grounds of “objectionable content,” the first outright application featuring jiggly bits has made it to the App Store. How could this happen? Easy, Apple’s shift in policy is made possible by the parental controls included in the iPhone OS 3.0 — you know, so you can parent instead of Apple. Hopefully this brings an end to arbitrary App Store rejections and begins a new era of fire and brimstone threats of eternal damnation.
[Via MacRumors]
Read [Warning: not safe for work]
Filed under: Cellphones
Apple’s App Store approves first explicit content, Anita Bryant races to Cincinnati originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
[Via Red Ferret]
Filed under: Science
Thinergy micro-battery retains charge for years, very easy to misplace originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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So, the first time we watched this Macbreak video, we thought to ourselves, “now, this is downright silly” but the second time? Well… we probably won’t be investing $300 in a pro Red Rocks Micro shoulder mount for any iPhone 3GSs anytime soon, but the video does demonstrate what we all already knew: if you stabilize an even decent mobile phone cam, the results are better than if you don’t. Insane? Surely. Hit the second read link for the video.
[Via Wired]
Read – Video on the iPhone 3GS: How Far is Too Far?
Read – Video of iPhone 3GS with shoulder mount
Filed under: Cellphones
Video: iPhone 3GS gets professional shoulder mount, we giggle originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Listen up, porn purveyors of the world: This is the first iPhone application to contain bare boobs. The $1.99 app for iPhone and iPod touch only showed girls in lingerie and bikinis until now, according to its developer:
We uploaded nude topless pics today. This is the first app to have nudity.
This is not just an application that downloads softcore content from the Web, bypassing Apple’s censorship. There is no censorship here, as this is truly an Apple approved app “rated 17+” for “frequent/intense sexual content or nudity” and “frequent/intense mature/suggestive theme.”
My fellow citizens, in case you didn’t already noticed with the Debby-Approved™ iPhone vibrator app, a New Era has begun. Expect Apple application business to explode as the Hustlers, Vivids, and Playboys of this world invade the biggest smartphone application store in the planet. [iTunes App Store via Macenstein]
Update: it’s down.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
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