May 15
Homemade soundboard by artist/nerd Steve D’Angelo rocks a vintage look and sounds like Space Invaders and Pac-Man.
May 15
UCSD researchers hope to track airborne toxins with sensor-equipped cellphones
Posted in: sensor, Today's Chili
If researchers the world over have their way, cellphones will one day be used to detect and track everything from nuclear radiation to pollution to cancer, and it looks like you can now add one more to the group — some researchers from the University of California, San Diego have developed a tiny sensor that could eventually let cellphones track airborne toxins in real time. To do that, the researchers have proposed a rather novel system that would consist of a tiny silicon sensor that changes color when it interacts with various chemicals, and a equally tiny camera with a macro lens that would actually capture an image of the sensor and display it on the phone’s screen. As you might have guessed, however, while the researchers are now showing off the sensor itself, they still have a ways to go on the cellphone part of the equation — although they have apparently started work on a prototype.
UCSD researchers hope to track airborne toxins with sensor-equipped cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 07:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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May 15
Too busy bidding adieu to space shuttle Atlantis this week to keep your eyes on Crave? Here’s what was happening here on Earth while you were looking toward space.
May 15
DNA used to build nanoscale assembly line, Arto Lindsay unavailable for comment
Posted in: nano, nanotechnology, Today's Chili
This is what they call in the blog biz a “DNA Two-fer.” Earlier today we heard about self-assembling DNA circuits, and now what do we have? NYU chemistry professor Nadrian Seeman and his colleagues have developed what they call “DNA robot factories.” Featuring a DNA track (like an assembly line), molecular forklifts for delivering parts, and a DNA “walker” that CNET describes as moving “like a car on an assembly line,” the invention is currently being used to construct various types of gold nanoparticle chemical species (whatever that means), although it could eventually be used in processors or for building on the cellular level. Hit up the source link to see the Nature article for all the in-depth details of this nanoscale assembly line.
Continue reading DNA used to build nanoscale assembly line, Arto Lindsay unavailable for comment
DNA used to build nanoscale assembly line, Arto Lindsay unavailable for comment originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 05:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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May 15
Intel promises to bring wireless display technology to other mobile devices
Posted in: handheld, intel, MID, netbook, tablet, Today's Chili
Details are unfortunately light on this one, but Intel has closed out the week with one interesting tidbit of news — it’s apparently planning to bring its wireless display technology (a.k.a. WiDi) to netbooks, tablets and other mobile devices. That word comes straight from Intel wireless display product manager Kerry Forrell, who says that “we fully expect to take the technology there,” but that he can’t yet provide a specific time frame. Those plans are further backed up by Intel CEO Paul Otellini himself, who told investors this week that “what we’ll be doing over the next few years is take the Wi-Di capability that’s in the laptop today and extend that into all the Intel platforms.” Intel doesn’t even seem to be stopping there, however, with Forrell further adding that the company even sees the technology being built into to TVs “over time.”
Intel promises to bring wireless display technology to other mobile devices originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 02:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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May 14
How would you change Fusion Garage’s JooJoo?
Posted in: Features, flash, HowWouldYouChange, HWYC, slate, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili
Alright, so we gave you the opportunity to rant and rave on Apple’s iPad last week, and it’s only fitting that Fusion Garage’s much-anticipated JooJoo go next. To date, it’s pretty safe to say that quite a bit less (we’re understating things here, obviously) JooJoo tablets have been sold than the aforesaid iPad, but that’s not to say none of you have one. On the off-chance that you actually are the proud owner of a JooJoo, we couldn’t be more eager to hear how you’d tweak things if given the golden opportunity. Would you make the screen a touch smaller? Alter the exterior design in any way? Swap the CPU or GPU? Toss on a different operating system? Force it to use iTunes like only a true sadist would? Go on, the floor’s yours — throw down your best advice in comments below.
How would you change Fusion Garage’s JooJoo? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 22:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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May 14
Android 2.1 upgrade for Sprint’s HTC Hero leaks out
Posted in: firmware, hero, HTC, leak, rom, Sprint, Today's Chili, update, upgrade
Okay, so the Moment’s Android 2.1 upgrade is official — great. But what about the Sense-powered Hero? There’s no firsthand word just yet other than the promise of a Q2 release, but there is a firsthand ROM (seemingly) floating around that gives us hope we’ll here something from Hesse and crew any day now. Oh, yeah, and there is the cool part about being able to just grab the binary now and get your upgrade on without waiting, if you’re as brave and impatient as we tend to be around here. Let us know how it goes, folks.
[Thanks, Divyam]
Android 2.1 upgrade for Sprint’s HTC Hero leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 14
Street View cars mistakenly nabs personal data over open WiFi networks, says Google
Posted in: Google, privacy, Today's Chili, wifi
Let this be a very strong reminder to password-protect your WiFi networks… but first, some backstory. In 2006, a Google engineer “working on an experimental WiFi project” wrote a piece of code for collecting “all categories of public broadcast WiFi data” — basically, all information (known as “payload”) downloaded and uploaded from an open / non-password protected network. That code — by mistake, as VP of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace says — wound up a year later into the software Google’s Street View cars used to collect location-based data. Eustace addressed the situation in an official blog post today — the revelation of the payload data reportedly discovered after an audit requested by Hamburg, Germany’s data protection authority (DPA). The original intention, he said, was to obtain only SSID information and MAC addresses, but that just wasn’t the case.
Offering an open apology, he reassured that this affected only open networks and, given the cars being “constantly on the move,” only fragments of data were collected — fragments that he says were never looked at or even noticed until the audit. Plans are currently in action to remove the extraneous info — “we want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it.” Additionally, all affected Street View cars have been grounded, so that great idea you had about dressing up as a Power Ranger and getting yourself a spot in Google Maps coordinates? Looks like that loss of privacy might’ve afforded you some extra time to paint the helmet.
Street View cars mistakenly nabs personal data over open WiFi networks, says Google originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 19:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 14
Cable Company Makes a Move on Internet Video
Posted in: boxee, cable, hulu, Media Players, set-top-box, Today's Chili
Four hundred eighty channels and nothing to watch on TV? Liberty Global, one of the largest cable service providers in Europe, is adding a few more options for its customers.
The company will soon introduce a set-top box that will marry traditional cable content with apps, widgets and access to web-based video, Wired has learned.
“It’s a set-top box on steroids,” Balan Nair, chief technology officer for Liberty Global, told Wired.com. “The interface will be very intuitive and advanced and include features such as search and recommendation that will tie in a seamless way the experience of a using a DVR and a web search engine.”
Think of it as a Boxee or Roku-like service living on the cable digital video recorder. For instance, a search for Batman will show what channel is broadcasting it, if is available through video on demand, where on the web you can find it and even if it is available through some peer-to-peer networks.
The move will be a big step forward for the cable industry, which has so far been wary of internet video content. It could change the idea of a set-top box and usher in a post-TiVo era where consumers watch Jersey Shore with the same ease as an episode of the online show Epic Fu. In addition to delivering a greater variety of content to your living room, it could open up new opportunities for video producers to reach a mass audience, and could help the cable companies sell more broadband accounts.
The only losers? Startups that have bet their futures on making dedicated internet TV boxes, with functions that set-top boxes like Liberty Global’s could soon replace.
The box or the “gateway” as Nair likes to call it will be an IP-based device that can stream video, voice and data over Wi-Fi to devices in the home such as PC, phones and eventually the iPad. Liberty will partner with Samsung and LG to build the box, which will be powered by Intel’s Atom processor.
Liberty’s new set-top box will initially be available in Europe early next year. Although the company hasn’t yet determined prices, it might be free to new customers who sign up for Liberty’s cable service, and available for a small upgrade fee to current customers.
“It makes a lot of sense because it is smart and future-proof,” says Jeff Wlodarczak, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group, a New York-based equity research firm that focuses on the media and communications sector. “All of cable will eventually go in this direction.”
Web-connected TV is growing fast as more people connect to Hulu to watch the latest episode of Lost or hook up Boxee to look for Jon Stewart’s comedy clips. By 2014, about 160 million households worldwide will be watching internet-delivered video on their TVs on a regular basis, estimates The Diffusion Group. In North America alone, 63 million homes, or almost half of the TV watching households, will be viewing internet content on the big screen, Diffusion predicts.
“If you can let people personalize their TV experience by combining widgets and internet content with the 40 channels, that’s going to be very important,” says Wlodarczak.
Cable service providers are intrigued yet wary of web content and offering easy access to it. Liberty Global’s move could help some service providers in the United States find a way to replicate it, says Colin Dixon, an analyst with The Diffusion Group.
“If Liberty does this, it is a step forward for the entire industry,” he says. “If they can provide a set-top box with access to web content, then it becomes a pretty good deal for customers.”
Today, getting internet video content on your TV means having enough tech savvy and patience to jump through a few hoops. First, users have to download services such as Boxee and Roku on their PCs — though the two companies also make their services available through dedicated hardware — and then hook them up to their TVs.
Companies like Apple and Netgear have tried to make the process easy by offering consumers hardware that will stream web content to their TVs more simply. But so far, most consumers have resisted adding yet another device to their living room.
Baking web-streaming features directly on the cable box could change the picture. Liberty’s box will support the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard that will allow different devices, such as DVD players, TVs, set-top boxes and PCs, to share their content with one another.
But all this could come at the expense of some of the smaller, innovative streaming media startups.
“Cable guys are great at delivering content and a pipeline full of channels 24/7,” says Andrew Kippen, vice-president of marketing at Boxee. “What they don’t have expertise in is delivering the interface and that’s why we are a software company.”
Kippen may be just a little too optimistic.
TiVo’s history offers clues on what happens when cable companies move in. Despite its great user interface and innovative service, TiVo’s service was crushed by inexpensive set-top boxes from cable companies that flooded consumer homes and offered similar features. TiVo recovered only when it cut a deal with the cable companies to integrate its software into their boxes, slowly giving up on the idea of having a TiVo-branded box in consumer homes.
Services like Boxee could meet with a similar fate. “If the cable companies move in, Boxee or even Hulu will cease to be quite so important in the web world as they are now,” says Dixon.
Boxee says it hopes to stay one step ahead in the game by partnering with the cable companies and creating an open platform.
“We are not a gatekeeper like the TV company is going to be,” says Kippen.
Boxee and Roku may have found the chink in the cable providers’ armor. Liberty Global’s success, for instance, will largely depend on how open their new set-top box service is, says Dixon, because openness is the key to rapidly adding new features via third-party products.
“Roku has this open API and anyone can get on its box,” he says. “But if Liberty can’t do that then they are never going to be able to keep up with what’s going on the web and they will be left behind by more open players.”
The biggest of those challengers is likely to be Google. At its developer conference next week, Google, in partnership with Sony and Logitech, is expected to announce an open set-top box that will run the Android operating system.
“It’s a business that’s likely to get intensely competitive,” says Wlodarczak.
Despite Liberty Global’s efforts, change in the cable world, especially in the United States is likely to be slow, says Corey Ferengul, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Rovi, a company that works with TV content creators and cable companies.
“Cable operators are absolutely interested in getting into internet content, whether that be shorts or user generated content,” says Ferengul. “What they haven’t figured out is how to pay for the service and that’s holding them back.”
Take that fear into account and Liberty Global’s walled garden approach could be the right first step, says Wlodarczak.
“Keep it simple, that’s what they are going for,” he says. “They can always iterate on it and add more but right now they are taking a big first step.”
See Also:
- Hands-On With the Boxee Set-Top Box and Remote
- Review: Roku Netflix Set-Top Box Is Just Shy of Totally Amazing
- Boxee Beta Is a Web Video Streamer’s Dream
Photo (bigpresh/Flickr)
May 14
Radio Shack taking EVO 4G preorders for $50 deposit, will toss in $20 for accessories
Posted in: 4G, HTC, pre-order, PreOrder, Sprint, Today's Chili, WiMAX
Between Sprint and Best Buy locations, there shouldn’t be any shortage of opportunities to score an EVO 4G next month — assuming inventory holds up, of course — but Radio Shack’s getting in the game, too, and it’s sweetening the deal just a little bit. If you reserve a phone prior to launch by purchasing a $50 gift card (which you’ll presumably use in June to help pay for the purchase), they’ll toss in a $20 credit toward accessories when you come back in. Of course, these days, that doesn’t even get you all the way to affording a freaking wall charger, but it’s better than a punch in the nose.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Radio Shack taking EVO 4G preorders for $50 deposit, will toss in $20 for accessories originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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