The 27-Inch iMac Is the New Apple TV

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Apple 30-inch Cinema Display: $1,800. Apple iMac, with 27-inch display: $1,700. If you’re having trouble with those numbers, it means that if you can give up just three diagonal inches (and remember, it’s not the size but what you do with it that counts) then you can save $100, and Apple will effectively throw in a free computer.

It’s true that the Cinema Display is slightly more cinematic, with a vertical pixel count of 1,600 versus the iMac’s 1,440, but both have the same horizontal resolution of 2,560 pixels, which means you don’t get to fit much more on the bigger monitor.

Add to this the iMac’s killer feature: The screen can be used as a display for another computer using an optional DisplayPort adapter (DisplayPort is a two-way interface). This means that, a few years down the line when you have convinced yourself your computer is too slow, you’ll still have a great TV.

And make no mistake. From the splash page featuring the Star Trek graphic above to the VESA-compatible mount to the heavy emphasis on contrast ratios and viewing angle show you that Apple wants you to toss your telly and put this in the living room instead. The new iMac, it seems, is also the new Apple TV.

Product page [Apple]


To complete your day, the Windows 7 Whopper

Much less healthy than the actual operating system.

(Credit:
Elecronista.com)

While Microsoft’s new operating system finally hits stores and computers around the globe, we thought we’d lighten up Windows 7 launch day with the strangest promotional item we’ve seen for an operating system: the Windows 7 …

Samsung and TeliaSonera bringing LTE to vikings in 2010

Scandinavian folks tend to be a pretty cheerful bunch during the summer, and now Swedes and Norwegians will have reason to smile through the cold dark winters as well, with Samsung announcing an agreement to provide TeliaSonera with “mobile broadband devices for commercial service next year.” This agreement relates to Sammy’s Kalmia 4G USB modem and adds to the Swedish operator’s LTE push, which already counts Ericsson and Huawei among the contracted hardware providers. So that’s 100Mbps mobile broadband, coming to a snow-covered nation near you within the next dozen months or so. All we would ask of our viking friends now is that they remember their world-conquering ways of the past and start spreading that goodness globally. Come on, it’s our right! Full press release after the break.

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Samsung and TeliaSonera bringing LTE to vikings in 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ballmer on the Smartphone Race: “It Doesn’t Matter What the Critics Say”

In this segment of my exclusive interview series with Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer, I brought up the sore subject of Windows Mobile 6.5. After defending it, he cited another product that did well but suffers mounting criticism: Nokia smartphones.

As you can see in the video, Ballmer acknowledges that Windows Mobile 6.5 is receiving negative reviews, but I never get him to actually admit that the platform still needs work. He says, “reviews aside,” he’s happy with what Windows Phones (running 6.5) can do now.

And faced with competition of iPhone, BlackBerry and others, he contends it’s currently “kind of a horse race.” The only clear leader, market-share wise, is Nokia, and they’re losing ground. When I said that Nokia was another developer currently lambasted by reviewers, Ballmer replied:

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the critics say, it matters what the customers say.

Perhaps given the power of advertising (still mighty, even if it’s on the decline), there may still be a way for a product to get positive sales despite negative reviews. But the internet has changed that landscape, and the lines between critic and customer blur more every day. We all share knowledge in order to make better choices. So who, in the end, is this customer, who is so different from the critic? Not anyone who reads Gizmodo, that’s for sure.

Stay tuned for more exciting Ballmer moments (and facial expressions) over the next day, and then the full uncut interview video on Friday. Video by Mike Short

Steve Ballmer Exclusive Interview Series:
Part 1: Ballmer Talks Natal, Says Blu-ray Add-On for Xbox Coming
Part 2: Ballmer on the Smartphone Race: “It Doesn’t Matter What the Critics Say”
Part 3: Ballmer on Zune: Sometimes You Get It Right The Third Time?

Hands-On: Surly Jethro Tule Bike Wrench and Beer Opener

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If you bike a lot, and especially if you bike a lot away from home or city, you need to carry a tool-kit. Luckily, you can repair any fairly modern bike with a toolkit small enough to fit into a tool-roll, saddle bag or even a repurposed pencil-case.

I have put together the perfect kit (for me, at least) over the last few months as I spend more time out on the road, but the one thing I could not find was a 15mm box-wrench small enough to fit in the bag. Finally I caved and ordered a Surly Jethro Tule from the UK. It cost too much, but it has the great advantage of incorporating a beer-bottle opener Here’s the kit:

You see the Jethro Tule (a great name, by the way), a Topeak multi-tool, a tiny Wrench Force mini-pump (which works very well, considering the size), a patch-kit in a section of inner-tube and a spare section of chain (five half-links). It all lives inside a Brooks D-Shaped Tool Bag, which comes in two parts meaning you can quickly remove the inner, zippered section from the seat.

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With this kit I can fix pretty much anything short of the headset or bottom-bracket, including chain repair. The Jethro Tule is one of many 15mm wrenches aimed at fixed-gear riders. They are all distinguished by a high price and a beer-opener. But does it work? The short answer is yes, but there is a problem.

The wrench is short. If you have tightened your wheel nuts with a longer spanner you’ll have some trouble getting enough leverage to remove them. It can be done though: The tapered box means the handle points out, away from the wheel, and the large flipper-like plate is big enough to kick with a heel, just like you do with a car wheel. It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done, and the box itself is deep enough that it holds on tight to the nut.

The Jethro Tule won’t replace a standard-sized box wrench at home, but on the road, it works great. And did I mention it opens beer? Around $30.

Product page [Surly]


Toyota’s FT-EV II concept sports steampunk interior, joystick controls

Toyota's FT-EV II concept sports steampunk interior, joystick controls

Toyota’s FT-EV concept was tiny, quirky, electric powered — and honestly a bit predictable. Its successor, the FT-EV II, takes that staid design and sends it way out there, leaving the exterior unchanged (some gold detailing adds a touch of flash) but dialing up the intrigue on the inside. The traditional wheel and pedal controls have been replaced by a gilded mechanical joystick contraption that would look appropriate on a Victorian-era rocket ship (had any such thing actually existed) leaving more legroom and what looks to be a more ergonomic driving experience. It’s a control scheme the company used previously on its i-Real concept… chair… thing, but this is the first Toyota with doors to rock it. Will those sticks and all that brushed metal and faux-ivory still be there when this car releases? Not a chance, sadly.

[Via Slashdot; image courtesy of Autoblog]

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Toyota’s FT-EV II concept sports steampunk interior, joystick controls originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Burger King selling a Windows 7 Whopper in Japan

Confirming our belief that Japan is at once among the coolest and craziest places on this planet we all call home is Burger King’s exclusive Windows 7 Whopper. Seven stacked beef patties extend your usual Whopper to over five inches in height and the whole thing costs an appropriate ¥777 (or $8.55). It’ll be available for one week only — or seven days, get it? Join us past the break to see the full towering size of this meaty monstrosity.

[Via Electronista]

Update: Andy Yang, our Engadget Chinese editor, has read the smallprint and noted that in fact only the first 30 customers each day will get the Win 7 Whopper at ¥777, with the rest shelling out a cool ¥1,450 ($17.10) for the privilege. Way to break with the number 7 theme, guys.

Continue reading Burger King selling a Windows 7 Whopper in Japan

Burger King selling a Windows 7 Whopper in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get a refurbished Blu-ray player for $79.99

For the first time ever, you can score a Blu-ray player for just $80.

(Credit:
Magnavox)

It wasn’t that long ago that we finally saw Blu-ray players dip below the magic $100 mark. Now, Newegg is offering a refurbished Magnavox NB500MG9 Blu-ray player for $79.99 shipped.

That’s …

Originally posted at The Cheapskate

USB 3.0 held back by lack of Intel chipset support?

Ruh roh. A senior tech manager at a “top tier PC maker” has come out with some entirely unofficial and equally ominous thoughts on what he (or she) sees as the tough road to proliferation for SuperSpeed USB. Pointing out that the new interconnect “won’t get real traction until it gets integrated in the chip sets,” the source opines that Intel won’t be offering motherboard integration before 2011 — an assertion Intel has declined to comment on. AMD and NVIDIA have been vocal critics of what they see as purposeful delays by the Pentium maker, and if this latest scuttlebutt is accurate, their wild finger-pointing will have been at least somewhat vindicated. Although Intel did release the 3.0 controller spec eventually, this wouldn’t be the first (or probably last) time when it has been seen to drag its feet where doing so is in its interest (eh hem, Light Peak). For our money, plenty of people who’ve been waiting for the new standard to show up in machines before pulling the trigger on an upgrade will be disappointed by such news, especially as 3.0 devices are just beginning to ship.

[Thanks, Jacob]

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USB 3.0 held back by lack of Intel chipset support? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Disney Keychest to make buy-once view-anywhere movies a reality with Apple’s help?

You know who’s missing from the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (or DECE) consortium? A group bent on redefining the way we buy, access, and play digital content with a membership roster that includes Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Fox, HP, Intel, Lions Gate, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, VeriSign, and Warner Bros? Right, Apple and Disney, the latter landing a lengthy piece in the Wall Street Journal describing Disney’s own distributed content ownership scheme that goes by the code-name, “Keychest;” a DRM solution that instantly provides access to content on any participating service (digital download store, mobile-phone provider, or on-demand cable for example) when a purchase is made. Keychest does this though a system of unique keys that are issued when a movie is purchased. The keys are then stored in a central repository (aka, chest) that participants would query. In this scenario, the movies would reside with each delivery company on their respective systems — movies would not be downloaded. On the bright side, if a content provider went out of business you would still have access to your films elsewhere. The proposed solution would work with Blu-ray disc purchases too, since BD players are internet-enabled by design — DVD keys would have to be manually typed in by the user. So in effect, you’d now be paying once for ownership rights to the film, not to the physical media. If it sounds similar to DECE it is, but Disney claims that its approach is more streamlined and you know, better.

Disney has been quietly courting other movie studios with Keychest and intends to go public with its technology next month. Of course, with Steve Jobs listed as Disney’s largest stockholder and the rumored Apple tablet being a media-redefining device that will single-handedly save newspapers while ridding the world of hunger and ignorance, well, you can see where the speculation is headed.

[Thanks, Demopublican]

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Disney Keychest to make buy-once view-anywhere movies a reality with Apple’s help? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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