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May 03

Lenovo’s 14-inch Z460 mentioned again overseas, this time with a Core i5 CPU

Posted in: chinese, CoreI5, intel, laptop, Today's Chili

Ready for the latest international laptop mystery? Good. Lenovo‘s 14-inch Z460, which has yet to be confirmed as real by the company, recently surfaced over in China with a decidedly average set of specifications. A Core i3 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB SATA hard drive and Windows 7 Home Basic were found onboard, though no further details were divulged. Fast forward to today, and this very same machine is seemingly available to order on contract from Singapore’s own SingTel, complete with a Core i5-430M processor (2.26GHz), Windows 7 Home Premium, a 14-inch WXGA display, 500GB hard drive and 2GB of DDR3 memory. Naturally, a free integrated wireless modem is thrown in here, but now we’re stuck wondering if a) this is the last of the configuration options and b) when exactly Lenovo plans to come forward and officially introduce this thing. Any day now, Junior…

[Thanks, Zhang Yi Jiang]

Lenovo’s 14-inch Z460 mentioned again overseas, this time with a Core i5 CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | SingTel | Email this | Comments

May 03

Photos: iFixit Rips Open iPad 3G

Posted in: ipad, Media Players, teardown, Today's Chili

You knew this had to happen: IFixit has taken the brand-new iPad 3G and torn it open, all before some of us have managed to get our hands on one. The internals of the 3G iPad don’t differ much from those of the earlier Wi-Fi-only model, but there are some design surprises apart from the big plastic strip on the back of the body.

The hardware additions come down to the cellular networking and aGPS chipsets. The iPad uses the exact same 3G chip as the iPhone 3GS, although it isn’t marked as such. iFixit’s sleuthing confirmed that it is in fact the Infineon 337S3754 PMB 8878 X-Gold IC used in the latest iPhone.

The GPS hardware, though, is different: Apple has switched to a Broadcom AGPS chip, dropping the iPhone’s Infineon Hammerhead II (which has a way better name).

The most interesting part for those of us not into chip numbers is the amount of antennae in there. You thought the iPad was stuffed full of battery, but it is also stuffed full of aerials: the 3G has five of them, for Bluetooth, GPS, 3G and Wi-Fi. One of the cell antennae is in the plastic RF window, as you’d expect. The other is hooked up to the LCD frame, running round the entire edge of the iPad. This should give great reception, and is a trick that Apple has used before in some MacBook models.

As ever, though, the best part of the iFixit post is the pile of wonderful pictures of the tear-down process. If you ever dreamed of ripping open your gadgets to see what was inside, but know that you’ll never get all the parts back together again, iFixit is the place to go. See a few more photos below.

iPad 3G Teardown [iFixit. Thanks, Kyle!]

Photo credit: iFixit

May 03

Nintendo Wii goes ebony and ivory on May 9, includes Sports Resort and Motion Plus

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, Today's Chili, wii

Nintendo’s Wii has been available in black overseas for quite some time now, and while there were ways to get one in North America, those ways weren’t exactly cheap — nor legitimate. Now Ninty is finally giving us a color option, releasing a black Wii to American consumers for $199.99 on May 9. In other news, you’ll have a copy of Wii Sports Resort included and a MotionPlus adapter to match, along with the controller and nunchuck that were previously included. In fact that looks to be the standard bundle going forward on the white models as well, which equates to something of a soft price drop assuming new Wii owners were going to buy Wii Sports Resort. And of course they were, because who can resist bopping their friends over the head with pretend wooden swords?

Continue reading Nintendo Wii goes ebony and ivory on May 9, includes Sports Resort and Motion Plus

Nintendo Wii goes ebony and ivory on May 9, includes Sports Resort and Motion Plus originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 07:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 03

Nokia N8 gets a 32GB model hint, nearly user-replaceable battery

Posted in: nokia, rumor, Today's Chili

Nokia’s N8 might not be for sale but it’s certainly out in the internet wilds. A few, presumably pre-production, units have already made their way onto some Arabic sites for dissection and lustful right-to-left analysis. SaudiMac had the good fortune to see some early retail packaging with “N8-00 / 32GB” printed (and later Photoshopped out) directly on the box. While that could indicate the N8’s support for 32GB microSD cards, we’re guessing (hoping?) it’s an unannounced model sporting 32GB of fixed internal flash memory to accompany the 16GB model already announced. We’ve also got a user from the ArabNokia forums demonstrating the removal of the N8’s battery — a simple operation requiring the removal of two screws to slide the battery out of the chassis’ bottom similar to the HTC Legend. The whole procedure is so simple that we have to wonder why Nokia didn’t take the industrial design a step further and make the standard 1,200mAh Nokia BL-4D battery (used in the N97 mini) user replaceable in the first place. Regardless, it’s good to know that you can swap the Li-Ion battery in a pinch or whenever you finally hit the lifetime recharge cap — you didn’t need that warranty anyway, right?

[Thanks, Ali F.]

Nokia N8 gets a 32GB model hint, nearly user-replaceable battery originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 06:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | SaudiMac, The Nokia Blog | Email this | Comments

May 03

Glass-Sided Toaster: Watch it Burn

Posted in: Miscellaneous, Today's Chili

Your toaster, like mine, is probably jammed somewhere between an electric kettle and a blender. The only visible parts are the filthy, crumb-caked slot and the handle which starts the mysterious browning process as it plunges the raw, naked bread into the hot slit. You have likely never adjusted the timer since the day you bought it, relying instead on yanking the toast as the edges start to char and burn. What you need, my toast-abusing friend, is this $350 machine from Magimix.

The Vision Toaster deserves to be taken out from its dark corner and proudly displayed. If not, you’ve kind of wasted your money, as the Vision is a hot-box with glass sides that let you see its inner workings. It will fit two slices of soft American pap at one time (or four slices of tasty baguette, as the sales page proudly shows) and let you see the Maillard reaction as it occurs, in exciting real-time.

The Vision has buttons for toast, bagels (one-side only), reheating and defrosting, all of which could easily be replaced by the one timer-dial in the center. The glass sides flip down for cleaning, and there is a slide-out crumb-tray for you to ignore.

Available now, from Williams Sonoma. Or you could just keep your existing toaster, drop in 350 bucks, set to high and walk away.

Magimix Vision Toaster [Williams Sonoma via Uncrate]

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May 03

iPad 3G sales estimated at 300,000 for launch weekend

Posted in: Today's Chili

Consumers scoop up the 3G model of the Apple device almost as briskly as they did its Wi-Fi-only sibling, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20003953-243.html” class=”origPostedBlog”iPad Atlas/a/p

May 03

Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis

Posted in: case, desktop, diy, HTPC, mod, PC, Today's Chili

Let’s face it — if you had a never-ending stack of cash and a computer room with no particular size constraints, you too would own a Thermaltake Level 10 enclosure. Regrettably, both financial and square footage constraints do indeed play major roles in most of our lives, including one Jeffrey Stephenson. This fine gentleman is quickly becoming the Ben Heck of wood-grained mods, this time cranking out a lovingly crafted iteration of the aforesaid chassis, but with that special wooden flair. The Level Eleven gets its inspiration from the gargantuan Level 10, but rather than taking things even bigger, Jeff decided to scale things down a notch; in fact, he constructed a fully functional PC within the handmade enclosure, all based around a VIA Pico-ITX mainboard and a 1.2GHz VIA Nano CPU. Thanks to the onboard VX855 media processor, this (comparatively) diminutive machine boasts an HDMI output and enough horsepower to pump out 1080p sans lag — but it doesn’t seem as if this bad boy is officially for sale. Not that he’d reject a five-figure offer or anything…

Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 06:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Jeffrey Stephenson | Email this | Comments

May 03

IPad 3G Sold 300,000 on Launch Weekend, Analyst Guesses

Posted in: ipad, Media Players, Today's Chili

Gene Munster, analyst at Piper Jaffray, has made public his educated guess on the sales figures for the iPad 3G launch weekend. The number? 300,000.

Munster came up with the number by combining several other numbers, according to Fortune’s Apple 2.0 blog. First, Munster and team counted the lines outside the flagship Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York, and a store in a mall outside Minneapolis. The results were compared to a count made at the launch of the Wi-Fi-only model, and gave up 329 vs. 730 in NYC and 119 vs. 132 in Minneapolis.

Then, Munster decided that the Friday launch gave people more time to buy than the first iPad’s Saturday launch, and threw a few more numbers into the pot. Then he had the idea that maybe more pre-orders had been made, because people had, you know, more time to do it. Mixed, shaken and spat into a spreadsheet, the final number is exactly the same as the official figure for the original iPad launch: 300,000.

Some real facts did come out of this, though. The team called around 50 Apple Stores yesterday (Sunday) and 49 had sold out of 3G iPads.

Generally, Munster’s figures tend to be high. As a rough guide, you can half his guesses to arrive at an accurate figure. When he cast his runes to predict the initial launch on April 3rd, for example, his magic number was 600,000 to 700,000, or double the actual number. Has Gene Munster already applied the Munster Equation this time? We’ll have to wait and see.

iPad 3G sold out in 49 of 50 stores [Fortune]

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May 03

Swiss scientists create dark clouds with a laser lining (video)

Posted in: cloud, laser, Today's Chili, video

Lasers can tell time, shoot down missiles and power one heck of a TV. Now, scientists claim they can create rain clouds, too. Turning a 5-terawatt infrared laser on the sky in short, 100-femtosecond bursts, researchers at the University of Geneva managed to strip electrons from the surrounding air, causing the formation of “hydroxlyl radicals” and growing water droplets in their wake. Though some scientific peers believe the idea could never be used to generate real, useful rain compared to existing cloud seeding techniques, Geneva scholars have now duplicated the effect in both the lab and in the skies over Berlin, and we’re sure it’s only a matter of time before some nefarious villain figures the frickin’ weather control technology into a suitably evil plot. Video after the break.

Continue reading Swiss scientists create dark clouds with a laser lining (video)

Swiss scientists create dark clouds with a laser lining (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 05:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | New Scientist, Physics World | Email this | Comments

May 03

Daily Downloads: Comodo, Foxit, and More

Posted in: Daily Downloads, Today's Chili

This article was written on May 23, 2008 by CyberNet.

comodo google foxit logos icons.png Welcome to Daily Downloads brought to you by CyberNet! Each weekday we bring you software updates for widely used programs, and it’s safe to assume that all the software we list is freeware (we’ll try to note the paid-only programs).

As you browse the Internet during the day, feel free to post the software updates you come across in the comments below so that we can include them the following day!

–Stable Releases–

The software listed here have all been officially released by the developers.

Comodo Firewall 3.0.23.364 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: Firewall
Changes: Bug fixes
Foxit Reader 2.3.2923 [Homepage] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: PDF reader
Changes: N/A
Google Desktop 5.7.805.16405 [Homepage] [Mirror]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: Desktop search and gadgets
Changes: N/A
Weather Watcher 5.6.30 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
Operating System: Windows only
Type of Application: Weather monitor
Changes: Bug fixes

–Pre-Releases (Alpha, Beta, etc…)–

The software listed here are pre-releases that may not be ready for everyday usage.

None

–Release Calendar–

June – iPhone 2.0 Software [Review]
June – Firefox 3.0 [Review]
June 12 – Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 1
June 19 – openSUSE 11.0
Mid 2008 – Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 [Review]
September 2 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 [Review]
October 30 – Ubuntu 8.10
2009 – Windows Mobile 7 [Review]
2009 – Paint.NET 4.00 [Review]
2010 – Windows 7 [Review]

Daily Downloads: Comodo & OpenOffice

CyberNet Update: Daily Downloads Merges with WrapUp’s

Daily Downloads: Foxit, AVG, and More

Comodo Personal Firewall 2.0 Gets Great Review

Hasta La Gadget!

Lenovo’s 14-inch Z460 mentioned again overseas, this time with a Core i5 CPU

Photos: iFixit Rips Open iPad 3G

Nintendo Wii goes ebony and ivory on May 9, includes Sports Resort and Motion Plus

Nokia N8 gets a 32GB model hint, nearly user-replaceable battery

Glass-Sided Toaster: Watch it Burn

iPad 3G sales estimated at 300,000 for launch weekend

Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis

IPad 3G Sold 300,000 on Launch Weekend, Analyst Guesses

Swiss scientists create dark clouds with a laser lining (video)