May 14

BeBook Neo e-reader deemed solid, well designed, expensive

Posted in: e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, reader, Today's Chili, wifi
Hey kids: Sick of e-readers yet? If not, the kids at trusted reviews just got their hands on what they consider one of the nicest thus far. This 6-inch display-sportin’ bad boy has some heft to it — the reviewers felt that at .66 pounds it might be too much e-reader for some people. Still, it seems well-built and designed for holding for long periods of time. All in all, it’s not earth-shattering, as much as “a well thought out refinement” of devices the reviewer has seen before. On the other hand, there is no finger input, MP3 playback is still not supported (an issue to be dealt with on a future firmware release, apparently), the much-ballyhooed Wacom pen notations, while nice, are only available on certain docs, and the UI (which relies on a jogwheel) is counter-intuitive, at first. So, it’s pretty damn nice… but is it £238.29 (about $350) nice? Hit the source link to decide for yourself.

BeBook Neo e-reader deemed solid, well designed, expensive originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Skype’s group video calling beta now available for Windows

Posted in: skype, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

Mac and Linux users are still being asked to hold their horses, but Windows loyalists can begin testing out that hotly-anticipated group video calling feature today. Skype‘s latest beta, which was detailed earlier in the month, is now available to download for those willing to take the risk, with Skype 5.0 Beta adding support for “group video calls with up to four people.” Hit that source link to get things rolling, and be sure to drop us a line once you and your four besties have had a chance to give ‘er a go.

Skype’s group video calling beta now available for Windows originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

LG’s $400 BX580 network 3D Blu-ray player ships in a month or two

Posted in: amazon, available, blu-ray, LG, now available, now shipping, NowAvailable, NowShipping, ship, ships, Today's Chili

Staying on that cutting edge, are we LG? In a world starstruck by HDMI 1.4, internet connectivity, DLNA, 3D and 1080p, LG’s latest deck has it all, and now we know precisely — er, almost precisely — when she’ll ship. The BX580 has just found itself a slot on Amazon’s website, priced at $399.99 and proudly listed as the company’s first network 3D Blu-ray player. Aside from having the ability to handle forthcoming 3D Blu-ray titles, it also ships with NetCast Entertainment Access, giving users the ability to enjoy web connected content without bothering with an HTPC. ‘Course, that “usually ships in one to two months” could stand to be a little more precise, but we’ll take what we can get at this point.

LG’s $400 BX580 network 3D Blu-ray player ships in a month or two originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

How YouTube 3D Came to Be [Q&A]

Posted in: Google, Today's Chili, top, YouTube

About a year ago, YouTube made a quiet upgrade—it began to support 3D content. But the even neater thing? The work was essentially that of one employee who worked on the project in his spare “20%” time. More »

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May 14

Novero’s Bluetooth headset doubles as neckwear, savings destroyer

Posted in: bluetooth, expensive, luxury, Today's Chili, video

Can’t say we’ve ever heard of Novero before today, but after watching the undoubtedly mesmerizing homescreen loop linked there in the source, we can safely say we’ll never (ever) forget about ’em. From what we can gather, this company specializes in overpriced jewelry, and given that Bluetooth headset use is rising stratospherically, seeing a new necklace-slash-BT headset hit the market just makes perfect sense. All sarcasm aside, the new Victoria line actually is fairly edgy, and if the light hits you right, it’s actually palatable. The collection consists of the Victoria Lapis, Pearl, Stripes, Wave and Victor, all of which purportedly boast the same innards but different exteriors. Specifications are unsurprisingly hard to come by, but considering some of the more blinged out models are priced at around $120,000, it’s not likely to matter. Video’s past the break, richy.

Continue reading Novero’s Bluetooth headset doubles as neckwear, savings destroyer

Novero’s Bluetooth headset doubles as neckwear, savings destroyer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Google CEO: At Least 65,000 Android Phones Shipped Daily

Posted in: Android, Google, Today's Chili

How well is Google’s Android OS holding up in the smartphone battles? According to recent numbers from research group NPD, the operating system topped the iPhone in sales for the first quarter of the year, coming in second only to BlackBerry in the US.

If you need some more concrete numbers, how about this one: According to Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, more than 65,000 Android handsets are shipped every day. Schmidt revealed the number during a shareholder meeting in Mountain View yesterday. “It looks like Android is going to be either the number one or number two player,” the executive told the crowd.

Schmidt also suggested that his estimate “might be quite low,” according to “the blogosphere.” At present, there are 34 different smartphones running the OS in 49 countries.

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May 14

iBuyPower compromises on nothing with Lan Warrior II

Posted in: gaming, Today's Chili

Desktop case connoisseurs will recognize the above as NZXT‘s Vulcan enclosure, and they’ll also know it comes with two 120mm fans, at front and top, plus the option to add in a 200mm (that’s eight inches, folks!) blower under the mesh side panel. Mind you, you’ll be needing all the cooling you can get if you opt to run two of either the Radeon HD 5970 or GeForce GTX 480 in tandem, which this beastie can handle with its 1,200 Watt PSU. In terms of other specs, the Lan Warrior part deux will service you with anything up to an Intel Core i7-980X, 24GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to two terabytes of SSD storage. We decided we’d max those options out and got ourselves a blood-chilling $11,658 quote. Hit the source below to try and spec out a more reasonable rig, we’re sure it’s possible.

Continue reading iBuyPower compromises on nothing with Lan Warrior II

iBuyPower compromises on nothing with Lan Warrior II originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Report: Acer Readying Release of Chrome OS Device

Posted in: Chrome, Google, Today's Chili

The recent rumors of an forthcoming Verizon Android tablet prompt this question: Whatever happened to Google’s Chrome OS? Granted, Google never led us to believe that the Web-based OS would be available to consumers before the second half of the year, but it’s a bit surprising just how little we’ve heard coming out of the Chrome camp.

But now, it seems that the first Chrome OS-based device may actually hit shelves. According to a story over at Venture Beat, Acer is set to become the first company to launch a device running the operating system. The unnamed piece of hardware is rumored to be making its debut at Computex, held June 1st to June 5th.

There’s nothing official about the reports, however. Venture Beat hasn’t cited any of its “multiple sources,” but I guess we’ll all know the answer in a couple of weeks.

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May 14

Sony’s entry-level A290 DSLR smiles for the camera

Posted in: dslr, sony, Today's Chili
Sony's entry-level A290 DSLR smiles for the camera

Sony hasn’t seen fit to fully announce the successor to its current entry-level Alpha model, the A230, but Tinhte forum member dt0306 has posted what looks to be conclusive proof of its existence — not to mention shots at every angle and detailed specs. This re-designed model now packs a 14 megapixel CCD with a BIONZ image processor, along with the same maximum 3200 ISO, 2.7-inch LCD, and 2.5fps maximum shooting speed of the A230. Storage is handled by Memory Stick or SDHC, and there’s even a price mentioned: 9,990,000 VND, or about $530 including the 18 – 55mm lens that the A230 comes mated to. There’s no telling what the domestic MSRP will really be whenever this kit releases here, but we’re not sure that a couple of extra megapixels and a new body warrants much of a premium.

Sony’s entry-level A290 DSLR smiles for the camera originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 10:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Self-assembling DNA circuits could power your next computer

Posted in: research, Today's Chili

Self-assembling DNA circuits could power your next computerSick of silicon? It is getting a bit played, so maybe it’s time to shift some paradigms, and Duke University engineer Chris Dwyer thinks that pure proteins deoxyribonucleic acids are where it’s at. He’s demonstrated a way to force DNA to create shapes all by itself, a process he likens to a puzzle that puts itself together:

It’s like taking pieces of a puzzle, throwing them in a box and as you shake the box, the pieces gradually find their neighbors to form the puzzle. What we did was to take billions of these puzzle pieces, throwing them together, to form billions of copies of the same puzzle.

Right now the waffle-shaped structures he can form aren’t particularly useful, but going forward the hope is that nearly any type of circuitry could be made to build itself in massive quantities at next to no cost. It sounds exciting, promising, almost utopian — exactly the kind of research that we usually never hear of again.

Update: We’ve had a few people commenting on the inaccuracy of the word “proteins” above, so it’s been fixed and we hereby invite all you armchair molecular biologists to get back to curing cancer already.

Self-assembling DNA circuits could power your next computer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 09:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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