Sony Ericsson’s first Google Android phone, the Xperia X10, gets FCC approval with support for T-Mobile’s 3G bands. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-10419466-251.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Android Atlas/a/p
By our count ASUS has released — at the very least — 20 Eee PC netbooks since 2008. Some had 8.9-inch or 10-inch displays, some ran Xandros Linux or Windows XP, and some packed hard drives instead of flash storage. But common to virtually all of them was an Intel Diamondville 1.6GHz Atom N270 or N280 processor. That all changes with the 10-inch Eee PC 1005PE — one of the first netbooks to feature the next-generation Intel Pine Trail platform, which features a 45-nanometer Pineview Atom N450 processor that integrates both the memory controller and GMA 3150 graphics onto the CPU die. The newly compact package promises improved performance and power efficiency, but will you notice the difference? Does the $380 1005PE blow past the Diamondville Eee PCs of late? Read on to find out in our full review.
Gallery: ASUS Eee PC 1005PE Review
Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 1005PE review
ASUS Eee PC 1005PE review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Get ready for the next generation of netbooks and nettops: Intel’s just officially announced the Pine Trail Atom N450, D410, and D510, along with the NM10 Express chipset, and we should see over 80 machines with the 45-nanometer chips at CES 2010. Nothing too surprising about the 1.66GHz chips themselves, which integrate the memory controller and Intel graphics directly onto the CPU die: the N450 is targeted at netbooks, while the single-core D410 and dual-core D510 are designed for nettops, and each chip should use about 20 percent less power than its predecessor. That was borne out in our review of the N450-based ASUS Eee PC 1005PE, which got 10 hours of battery life in regular use, but unfortunately we didn’t experience any performance improvements over the familiar N270 and N280. That jibes with other reports we’ve heard, but we’ll wait to test some more machines before we break out the frowny face permanently — for now, check out the full press release below.
Continue reading Intel’s next-gen Pine Trail Atom processors officially announced
Intel’s next-gen Pine Trail Atom processors officially announced originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The the $379 Eee PC 1005PE is the first Netbook to reach our labs with Intel’s new Atom N450 processor–the long-awaited sequel to the Atom N270 and N280 CPUs found in nearly every other Netbook.
Every few years you’ve probably watched a mainstream movie through a pair of glasses that make creatures, people and explosions pop out of the screen. And if you’ve bought into the massive hype, you were probably lining up this past weekend for James Cameron’s Avatar, which is screening in 3-D.
You might wonder, why can’t more movies be shown in 3-D? It would just take some post-production video rendering and a pair of stereoscopic glasses, right?
Actually, 3-D projection is a lot more complicated — and expensive — than one would think. In anticipation of Avatar, Wired.com paid a visit to Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco to learn about the history of 3-D movie technology leading up to its current state.
Remember those junky glasses, with a blue lens for one eye and a red one for the other? They were tied to a 3-D-imaging method called anaglyph that dates back to the 1950s. With this system, the images on the screen were projected with two color layers superimposed onto one another. When you put on the glasses, each eye sees a separate visual, the red-tinted image through one eye and the blue-tinted one through the other. Your visual cortex combines the views to create the representation of 3-D objects.
Though it may have been impressive at the time, early anaglyph imaging suffered from many issues. The color separation on film was very limited, and thus it was difficult to perceive details in 3-D scenes. Another frequent problem was ghosting, which happened when the image that should be appearing in your left eye would creep over to the right.
And then there’s the screen. Theaters projecting 3-D movies with the anaglyph method have to install silver screens for an ideal viewing experience. That’s because the more reflective screen helps keep the two different light signals separated.
3-D movie technology has come a long way. Anaglyph imaging has improved: Glasses now are typically red and cyan, which, when combined, can make use of all three primary colors, resulting in more realistic color perception.
RealD cinema, currently the most widely used 3-D movie system in theaters, uses circular polarization — produced by a filter in front of the projector — to beam the film onto a silver screen. The filter converts linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light by slowing down one component of the electric field. When the vertical and horizontal parts of the picture are projected onto the screen, the filter slows down the vertical component. This effectively makes the light appear to rotate, and it allows you to more naturally move your head without losing perception of the 3-D image. Circular polarization also eliminates the need for two projectors shooting out images in separate colors.
Dolby’s 3-D system, used for some Avatar screenings, is a little different. It makes use of an exclusive filtration wheel (above) installed inside the projector in front of a 6.5-kilowatt bulb. The wheel is divided into two parts, each one filtering the projector light into different wavelengths for red, green and blue. The wheel spins rapidly — about three times per frame — so it doesn’t produce a seizure-inducing effect. The glasses that you wear contain passive lenses that only allow light waves aligned in a certain direction to pass through, separating the red, green and blue wavelengths for each eye.
The advantages of Dolby’s 3-D system? There’s no need for a silver screen, thanks to the built-in color-separation wheel and the powerful bulb right next to it, ensuring a bright picture necessary for 3-D viewing. Also, a mechanism can be adjusted inside the projector to change the projection method from reflection to refraction — meaning theaters can switch between projecting regular movies and 3-D movies.
The cons? The glasses are pricey: $27 apiece, so they’re designed to be washed and reused (as opposed to recycled). (Although, this would be considered a pro for the environment.) Altogether, a Dolby 3-D projection system costs theaters about $26,500, not including the eyewear.
Updated 9 a.m. PDT with more details explaining circular polarization.
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Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com, Brian X. Chen/Wired.com
Intel this morning officially announced the next generation of its popular Atom CPUs for Netbooks, the Atom N450, weeks before the upcoming CES trade show. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10417487-269.html” class=”origPostedBlog”2010 CES/a/p
Aigo jumps on the e-reader bandwagon with EB6301 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The debate on whether mobile phones are slowly turning us into a world of ailment-riddled weaklings rages on in the scientific community, but at least one state may be ready to step up the ominous, non-actionable warnings anyway. A representative in Maine has apparently persuaded her colleagues to let her bring up a proposal during January’s session of the state legislature that would require warnings on devices about the alleged link between RF emissions and brain cancer, strongly advising users to keep the devices away from their heads and bodies. At best, this seems premature, and at worst, it runs a risk of breeding a nation of 24 / 7 Bluetooth headset users — but the politician responsible for the movement seems to have it figured out: she holds her own phone away from her head while using it and turns it off unless she’s expecting a call. Could someone in her district please let us know what kind of archaic voice-only device she’s using?
Maine mulling cancer warning labels on cellphones, manufacturers mulling warning label on Maine originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Springwise: Philly Kitchen Share is a shared-use commercial kitchen available for hourly rental by caterers, personal chefs, bakers and other food professionals in the Philadelphia area. Created by the founders of PhillyCarShare, the 800-square-foot cooking space actually features two adjoining kitchens, for rent separately or together: one focused on traditional cooking or catering and the other on baking. Together, they’re equipped with stainless steel work tables, convection and standard ovens, commercial ranges and a variety of other tools. Rental prices are USD 39 per hour for one kitchen during off-peak hours, or USD 44 per hour during peak times. Since its launch last winter, business at Philly Kitchen Share has been steady, Philly.com reported, with renters including cooking classes, a vegan baker, a mobile cupcake vendor and a personal chef and caterer.
Indeed, it’s not hard to imagine that the availability of a shared kitchen could indirectly launch a multitude of small-scale food business startups, offering as it does a commercial facility on an as-needed basis with no overhead.
A synonym for “nerd” used to be “bookworm,” but it’s lost in today’s broadband ADHD society. We still read, though. Voraciously. Here we present a collection of books, new and old, that we’ve enjoyed over the course of this year.
There’s that old expression about those who forget their history being doomed to repeat it. So it’s good that there are so many chroniclers of the great achievements in tech, and in geek culture. [History Books]
Why are we so enamored with certain images or objects? Though an explanation on the inner workings of the soul is always just out of reach, there are books that help us understand our art and design fetishes, what informs our gear lust as well as our definition of beauty. [Art & Design Books]
Science is about a passionate, single-minded pursuit of an uncertain goal, but you wouldn’t know it from reading most news coverage of great discoveries. Each year, though, a few brilliant writers dip into the details, and string together a story that is as beautiful as it is mind-blowing. [Science & Tech Lit Books]
We certainly try to hone our culinary skills on occasion, so it’s a given that we’ve been reading up on tasty treats and crazy concoctions. Naturally we’ve got some cookbooks that we can’t stop raving about, but since we’re dedicated nerds about food, there’s a lot more going on here, too. [Food & Cooking Books]
Maybe we’re not quite as prone to making nearly everything ourselves like our counterparts at Lifehacker, but we certainly love to tinker and enjoy DIY projects. Albeit it’s the ones that could cause major damage which we seem to go particularly crazy for, but I promise that there are innocent projects lurking in these books, too. [DIY Books]
Even the craziest DIYer, chef, historian, gadget lover or designer needs a break at some point. Here are the departures from reality that kept us sane, especially after long, busy weeks of telling the truth. [Novels and Other Fiction]
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
