Hasta La Gadget!

Care about Samsung‘s GT-B3730? Probably not… but what if we told you that that very device is the planet’s first commercially available dual-mode LTE / 3G WWAN modem? Now that we’ve got your attention, you may be interested in knowing that overseas operator TeliaSonera — hailed as the first carrier on the planet to fire up an LTE network and make it available to Joe and Jane last year — is just about ready to start shipping the aforesaid Samsung. As of now, the only way to hop onto their LTE superhighway is with a 4G-only modem, and while it had promised a two-faced stick in the second quarter of 2010, we’re elated to finally put a face to a promise. The primary downside is that there’s no current way for the USB modem to switch from LTE to 3G (or vice-versa) on the fly; instead, you’ll need to kill the connection and start a new one when you leave / enter a 4G zone. Purportedly, the stick will play nice with both Windows and OS X, and it can hit real-world download rates as high as 80Mbps and upload rates of 16Mbps. Suddenly, a relocation to Sweden seems altogether more inviting, no?

TeliaSonera gears up to ship first dual-mode LTE / 3G USB WWAN modem originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the iPhone 4, flashlight apps just got a whole lot more useful. Apps like “Dazzling Flashlight 4g” from Cramzy will fire up the new iPhone flash to light your way.

Previously, these apps would do little more than light up the screen in solid white. Some added “features” such as color, strobing and other jazzy effects. The thing is, when most of use an iPhone to light the way to the bathroom in the early hours, we just keep hitting the home button and navigate by whatever photons the unlock screen can provide.

Now the inevitable iPhone 4 versions are seeping into the App Store, and they light up the flash on the back of the handset. This is brighter than the screen (in some cases you can still choose to illuminate the screen, too), but you’ll still have to sleepily find the app before you stumble through your dark apartment.

More interesting is that these apps show us that Apple has provided developers with tools to control the external lamp. As on-axis flash is all but useless for straight photography, I’m hoping that somebody makes a strobing photo and video app that allows for some cool, stuttering image effects.

Dazzling Flashlight 4g [Cramzy via TUAW]

See Also:

• LightSource Turns iPhone into Off-Camera Light
• Beamer Makes a Case for Flash on the iPhone
• Suede Flip-Flops with Built-In Headlamps

If you or I are out and about and our cellphone battery dies, it is an inconvenience at most. If you are a soldier in the field, a lack of power can be a little more of a problem. But what if you could hook your gear up to overhead power-lines?

RAPS (Remote Auxiliary Power System) does just that. Developed for the Air Force, supposedly after soldiers asked for something like Batman might use, RAPS is an incredibly simple way to steal juice. You throw the small hammer-head over a power-line like you would a grappling hook, and a cut-out slips over the cable, contacting the bare metal. At the same time, a small blade pierces insulation of the other cable to complete the circuit, and power pours down the connected line to the soldier on the ground. Once there, the AC supply is converted via transformer to DC, whereupon it can be used to recharge equipment. Watch the patronizing video to learn more:

In it you will learn some handy facts you may not have known: “Power-lines are a handy source of electricity. But they are also dangerous.” Really?

Needless to say, making your own RAPS would likely be your ticket straight to the Darwin Awards, but this official device is safe enough to be used in pouring rain. I still have one question. How do you get it back down again?

The Bat Hook: Harvesting Energy from Power Lines [Armed with Science via PopSci]

The phrase “netbook powerhouse” would typically be considered an oxymoron. That was before ASUS announced its Eee PC 1215N bumpin’ a 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor with NVIDIA Optimus to intelligently switch between its NVIDIA Ion discrete and integrated graphics. That means it’ll cut through 1080p video without any problem when displayed on the 12-inch 1,366 x 768 pixel display or out to an HDTV via the included HDMI jack. Other specs include Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11n WiFi, integrated webcam with lens cover, choice of 250GB or 320GB hard disk drives augmented by 500GB of ASUS WebStorage, and pass-through USB to charge connected devices like cellphones when the Eee is powered off. Sorry, no mention of battery performance, price, or availability on this so-called netbook.

Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 1215N with NVIDIA Ion and dual-core Atom D525 is a netbook powerhouse

ASUS Eee PC 1215N with NVIDIA Ion and dual-core Atom D525 is a netbook powerhouse originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scene: Impossibly mature high school “girls” mingling in front of a locker. Action!

Bitter Barbie: “What are you doing? Is that a new phone?”
Bland Barbie: “Yeah, I’m checking my Kin. I’ll just write on Hannah’s wall from here.”

End scene.

Yes, ABC’s new Pretty Little Liars show is the future of American television, where entertainment morphs into infotainment and bakes the minds of an entire generation into a lovely pie of corporate servitude. We blame TiVo. Oh, and just because Palm quit making creepy commercials doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on promoting its Pre to women. Looks like Roger McNamee was right about that backside mirror’s appeal. See what we mean in the PLL episode 3 embeds posted after the break.

[Thanks, Dave]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Pretty Little Liars is TV’s newest home to egregious product placement (video)

Screen Grabs: Pretty Little Liars is TV’s newest home to egregious product placement (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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