Hasta La Gadget!

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Just after finally making them official and just ahead of what will surely be a blowout of devices at CES, Intel has let loose the dogs of benchmarking upon its highly anticipated Pine Trail Atom platforms: the N450 for netbooks and the D510 for nettops. On the portable side it’s HotHardware and AnandTech doing the testing, pitting the new Asus Eee PC 1005 PE (which we just reviewed ourselves) against some of its earlier Atom brethren, finding it out-paces the single-core N270 in terms of sheer CPU performance but is generally trumped by the dual-core 330, while its integrated GPU loses out handily to any machine with an Ion processor. But, in terms of battery life, it bested them all. The story is similar over at PCMag, which tested the D510 in a prototype nettop and found that its performance was no better than earlier 330-spec’d machines, but that its power consumption of just 19W under full load undercuts the thriftiest nettops — it’s quieter, too, thanks to a complete lack of fans. So, perhaps not the speed boost you might have been looking for, but fine battery life abounds, eh?

Intel’s netbook and nettop Pine Trail Atom platforms explored, benchmarked originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s WinMo 6.5-packin’ Omnia II has been available to Verizon Wireless customers (or at least those unaffected by the Droid) for a few weeks now, but strangely, we’ve yet to see a proper dissection of this here smartphone until today. That said, we’re sure the patience you’ve put into this will pay off after heading past the break, where all of the itty-bitty internals are shown in stunning detail for your entertainment / education. As a good gal we once knew would say: “Ain’t that the berries!”

[Thanks, Costas]

Continue reading Samsung’s Omnia II gets the video tear down you’ve all been longing for

Samsung’s Omnia II gets the video tear down you’ve all been longing for originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are Hewlett-Packard MediaSmart webcams racist? Not exactly.

In a video posted to YouTube this week, two co-workers – one white and one black – tried out the webcam face-tracking software on an HP MediaSmart computer. It is supposed to follow users as they move, but it fails to recognize Desi, a black man. When his co-worker Wanda, who is white, enters the frame, it immediately recognizes her and follows her in the frame.

“As soon as my blackness enters the frame … it stopped,” Desi said. “As soon as white Wanda appears, the camera moves. Black Desi gets in there? Nope, no facial recognition anymore, buddy. I’m going on record and I’m saying it. Hewlett-Packard computers are racist.”

Despite the accusations, Desi is good-natured and seemingly amused by the problem.

HP responded on its community blog.

“We are working with our partners to learn more,” HP said. “The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty ‘seeing’ contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.”

“Everything we do is focused on ensuring that we provide a high-quality experience for all our customers, who are ethnically diverse and live and work around the world,” HP continued. “That’s why when issues surface, we take them seriously and work hard to understand the root causes.”

PCMag’s network analystSamara Lynn’s take on this issue: Don’t Play the HP Race Card.

The long (long!) awaited Pandora gaming handheld is inching closer and closer to reality, with all but a few i’s and t’s left to dot and cross (respectively). It’s so close to ready, in fact, that personnel from the device’s production team invited a mere mortal (also known as a forum member) to their homes in order to test out and tinker with a pre-production model. Naturally, his hands-on experience was nothing short of glowing — but really, we wouldn’t expect anything less from a devout forum member who clearly digs even the idea of having a Pandora to hold and snuggle with. There’s no denying the awesomeness that awaits you in the video past the break, though, and if the unit really does handle everything as smoothly as it does Super Mario 64, we’re all in for a treat.

Continue reading Near-final Pandora handheld gets user reviewed, shown playing Super Mario 64

Near-final Pandora handheld gets user reviewed, shown playing Super Mario 64 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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