Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video)

We don’t know whether we should be terrified or overjoyed. We’ve just come across a video demo from the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab that shows an autonomous quadrotor helicopter performing “precise aggressive maneuvers.” And trust us when we say, nothing in the foregoing sentence is an overstatement — the thing moves with the speed and grace of an angry bee, while accompanied by the perfectly menacing whine of its little engine. See this work of scientific art in motion after the break.

[Thanks, William]

Continue reading Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video)

Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 04:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K unlock multipliers, better performance

Intel’s back in its familiar saddle today with the unveiling of a pair of new CPUs, marking the start of a new K-series that will cater to the overclocker inside all of us. The Core i7-875K is a 2.93GHz quad-core unit, which can scale heights of 3.6GHz via Turbo Boost, or even higher if you have the patience, tenacity and appropriate cooling to make it happen. Review action for this chip shows it to be Intel’s premier offering short of the enthusiastically overpriced and overpowered Core i7-980X. Even more affordable will be the Clarkdale-based Core i5-655K, which trots along at 3.2GHz (with a 3.46GHz gallop option), but response to it was a little more muted. It’s a dual-core CPU, after all, and if you don’t plan on exploiting that unlocked multiplier to achieve some madness above 4GHz, you might be better off looking elsewhere. In amidst all the mad benchmarking, we’ve also found a review of a Falcon Northwest i7-875K rig as well, so give it all a read if you’re mulling over a desktop upgrade.

Read – Tech Report
Read – AnandTech
Read – PC Perspective
Read – Hot Hardware
Read – TweakTown
Read – Legit Reviews

Intel Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K unlock multipliers, better performance originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 03:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung debuts business-minded P80, P30 series laptops, NB30 Pro netbook

Are you a businessperson in search of a portable computing device? Then Samsung claims to have a few new options designed with just you in mind in the form of its new P80 Premium and P30 Essential series laptops, and NB30 Pro netbook. On the laptop side of things, the P80 and P30 series are each available in 14-inch and 15-inch versions, with the P80 models packing a Core i5 processor, 320GB hard drive and a docking connector, while the P30 models dial things back to a Core i3 and a 250GB hard drive. As you might expect, the NB30 Pro (pictured above) is simply a slightly updated version of Samsung’s regular NB30 netbook, with it boasting an Atom N450 processor, a 160GB hard drive, up to 2GB of RAM, and Windows 7 Professional for an OS. Look for it to run you $519, while the P30 and P80 will start at $849 and $999, respectively — all should be available by the end of the month. Head on past the break for the complete press release.

Continue reading Samsung debuts business-minded P80, P30 series laptops, NB30 Pro netbook

Samsung debuts business-minded P80, P30 series laptops, NB30 Pro netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 03:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba AirSwing UI puts you on the screen with your data

We’ve seen a Minority Report-esque interface or two hundred by this point, but Toshiba’s AirSwing really caught our attention. Using little more than a webcam and some software, this bad boy places a semi-transparent image of the operator on the display — all the easier to maneuver through the menus. And according to Toshiba, that software only utilizes about three percent of a 400MHz ARM 11 CPU — meaning that you have plenty of processor left for running your pre-crime diagnostics. There is no telling when something like this might become commercially available, but the company plans to bundle it in commercial displays for malls and the like. Video after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba AirSwing UI puts you on the screen with your data

Toshiba AirSwing UI puts you on the screen with your data originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 02:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung planning Android 1.6 update for Behold II — but that’s it

Remember the good ol’ days when companies were honest to their customers? Aw, who are we kidding — those days never actually existed, so it’s good to see Samsung carrying on the time-honored tradition of playing the CYA game by belting out a bald-faced lie or two. So the Behold II for T-Mobile USA has been the subject of some serious buzz the past few days as buyers have grown weary of the lack of new builds, all while the Android world has passed them by with not one, not two, not three, but four major updates. Samsung Mobile finally broke the silence today on a forum — good on them — saying that there’s a Donut update in the works featuring “Swype, an improved Media Player, updated core Android applications and improved Bluetooth capabilities.”

That’s all well and good, but Samsung goes on to say that “the Behold II is not upgradeable beyond Android 1.6” — and we’ve got a serious problem with that wording. We know (and Samsung knows) damn well that they could upgrade the Behold II beyond Android 1.6, considering that the community has managed to shoehorn even Froyo onto prehistoric devices like the Dream; rather, Samsung chooses not to upgrade it beyond Android 1.6. That’s a business decision that Samsung has to make, and far be it from us to try to push Sammy into continuing to sink cash into a phone that didn’t sell very well — but the least these guys could do is be honest, face the music, and tell us that’s what’s going on rather than insulting our collective intelligence and insisting that there’s some cosmic force preventing Eclair or Froyo from loading onto a phone that was just released a few months ago. Seriously though, Sammy — thanks for the Donut, we guess.

Update: We’ve now received Samsung’s official response independently and have it for you after the break.

Continue reading Samsung planning Android 1.6 update for Behold II — but that’s it

Samsung planning Android 1.6 update for Behold II — but that’s it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 01:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung i897: the answer to your AT&T Android dreams?

Tired of your woeful selection of Android devices on AT&T? We hear you. Now buck up Mr. Sad Britches ’cause Samsung’s riding to your rescue. AndroidGuys has a purportedly leaked Samsung handset it’s calling the i897 that looks very similar to the Galaxy S specwise: 4-inch AMOLED display, Android 2.1 (for the moment anyway), and 5 megapixel camera. It’s built around a Snapdragon processor apparently, and even goes well with chicken. Now hit up the source for a few more pics.

Samsung i897: the answer to your AT&T Android dreams? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 01:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.2 wastes no time getting hacked onto HTC Dream and Magic

Though we’re not even a wee bit shocked to see a “usable” version of Froyo already available to owners of the G1 / Dream and Magic, we’re definitely heartened to see that phones running 2008 specs can handily run a mid-2010 version of the platform. There’s plenty of stuff that doesn’t work yet — WiFi and GPS, just to name a couple of biggies — but we suspect that this is one dev community that won’t give up until everything is working to their satisfaction. Motivation to hang on to otherwise outdated hardware for a few more months, perhaps?

Android 2.2 wastes no time getting hacked onto HTC Dream and Magic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 00:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sound ID’s 510 Bluetooth headset has iPhone app to match

Occasionally, we long for simpler times — times when “handsfree” meant little more than connecting a corded earbud to your phone and calling it good. Nowadays, of course, things are a little different: Bluetooth is quite literally everywhere, headsets have their own frickin’ apps, and bone conduction tech is the real deal. Take this Sound ID 510, for example, featuring its very own iPhone app (which Sound ID made sure to get approved by Apple ahead of the actual hardware’s release) that lets you control a number of settings, check your battery level, and find the set if you misplace it. To be fair, it’s not the first time we’ve seen an on-phone companion app for a Bluetooth earbud, and something tells us it won’t be the last; that’s right, welcome to our frightning new reality. Look for the 510 to hit shops in early June for about $130.

Sound ID’s 510 Bluetooth headset has iPhone app to match originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 00:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wi-Fi Sync now compatible with Windows and iPad

Wi-Fi Sync is quite the gem (at least we think so) but it had some limitations — namely, it only worked on OS X for desktop, and only with iPhone / iPod touch. Developer Greg Hughes pinged us earlier today to let us know he’s thrown the gates off such restrictions. The jailbroken app now works for both iPads and Windows — XP, Vista, and 7. The desktop client is free to download but it still cost just a hair under $10 for the appropriate mobile device. Worth the price of breaking free from wires? Your call.

Wi-Fi Sync now compatible with Windows and iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Senators push for tracking of pre-paid cellphones

New York Senator Chuck Schumer has already taken aim at texting while driving, and it looks like he’s now set his sights on pre-paid cellphones, which he says can also be dangerous — when in the wrong hands, at least. To that end, he and Republican co-sponsor John Cornyn of Texas have introduced legislation that would give authorities the ability to identify the owners of pre-paid cellphones, which they say is long overdue “because for years, terrorists, drug kingpins and gang members have stayed one step ahead of the law by using prepaid phones that are hard to trace.” That new tracking ability would also consequently place some new requirements on cellphone carriers and people buying the phones — specifically, anyone buying a pre-paid cellphone would be required to present identification before buying a phone, and cellphone carriers would have to keep that information on file for 18 months after the phone has been deactivated. Of course, the legislation still has a ways to go before it becomes law, but Schumer says it at least has a good chance of winning support from the Obama administration. Head on past the break for the complete press release.

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Senators push for tracking of pre-paid cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 23:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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