Zipcar adds the plug-in Prius PHEV to its fleet, probably not changing name to Zapcar

Zipcar adds plug-in Prius to its fleet, probably not changing name to Zapcar

Would you like a plug-in Prius, the sort that we spent a few days with last year, back when the seasons were changing and there was only a hint of this killer winter to come? Well, too bad, because you still can’t buy them. But Zipcar can, apparently, adding eight of the things to its fleet, and they’re available now in Boston, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. Given the company has 8,000 total cars available your chances of securing one of these particular Priuses (Prii?) is slim, but if you score, know that they charge in just three hours on a 110 outlet, and half that if you’re wired for 220, so no fancy-pants charging station is required for use.

Zipcar adds the plug-in Prius PHEV to its fleet, probably not changing name to Zapcar originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceElectric Cars Report  | Email this | Comments

Princeton Engineers Create Laser From Air

airlasermays.jpg

In the “so-futuristic-it-hurts” category, Princeton engineers have come up with a way to create a laser beam out of thin air. Their method, published in the journal Science yesterday, uses a focused laser pulse which causes another beam to be created from the air, carrying fingerprints of any molecules it encounters to a receiver. The effect comes from the first laser energizing oxygen atoms in a specific area and, as they cool, causing them to release infrared light, exciting more atoms and amplifying the process. 

Besides the cool factor that comes with being able to create a laser beam out of nothing but surrounding atmosphere, the device is a very effective way of detecting contaminants, like bombs or hazardous gasses, research group leader Richard Miles said in this article on physorg.com. According to the story, the group envisions a device small enough that it could be mounted on a tank and used to search a roadway for bombs, making it not just cool as a gadget, but also a potential life saver for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

WeSC Karmatech concept makes your shoes more social with RFID

We’ve been seeing more and more shoes infused with different sorts of technology in recent years, but none quite like this WeSC Karmatech concept developed by some students at Sweden’s Hyper Island “digital school.” Described as a “social take on Nike+,” the shoes apparently wouldn’t have an accelerometer but they do pack an RFID chip that allows the wearer to interact with their surroundings — automatically check in at a location and share it on Facebook or Twitter, for instance, or get access to exclusive deals or special events. Of course, it is just a concept, but the students note that it would be relatively cheap to implement (at least on the shoe end of the equation), as the RFID tags themselves only cost a few cents. Kinda gives a new meaning to “sneakernet,” doesn’t it? Head on past the break for the video.

Continue reading WeSC Karmatech concept makes your shoes more social with RFID

WeSC Karmatech concept makes your shoes more social with RFID originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s mSATA SSD 310 reviewed: a pint-size performer through and through

The forecast for speedy, razor-thin laptops is looking pretty sunny right about now, because it seems Intel’s SSD 310 truly does bring the power of a full-sized solid state drive on a tiny little board. Storage Review and The SSD Review thoroughly benchmarked the tiny 80GB mSATA module this week, and found it performs even better than advertised — easily tearing through 200MB / sec reads and 70 MB / sec writes — which put it slightly behind Intel’s legendary X25-M series but well ahead of the company’s X25-V boot drives. While we’re still not seeing Sandforce speeds from Intel’s tried-and-true controller and 34nm silicon and they might not make Toshiba’s Blade run for the hills, we can’t wait to test it out in some new Lenovo ThinkPads when they integrate the SSD 310 later this year. Oh, by the way, that big green board up above isn’t the drive. It’s actually the tiny one on top.

Intel’s mSATA SSD 310 reviewed: a pint-size performer through and through originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceStorage Review, The SSD Review  | Email this | Comments

Xbox 360 Price Cut Coming September 7th? We Think So…

This article was written on August 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

Last week rumors started to fly that Microsoft was planning to drop the price of the Xbox 360 pretty significantly. We questioned it because in July, Microsoft already did some price dropping with their 20GB Xbox 360 – dropping it from $350 down to $300. This turned out to be a temporary price drop to make way for a new 60GB model. While there has been no confirmation from Microsoft that the price-cuts are coming in September, new information suggests that the rumors are true.

Take a look at the image below. Someone took a picture of what they saw on the screen at an unnamed retailer when they did a SKU inquiry for the Xbox 360 Arcade System. As you’ll see, it shows a price of $199.99 that will be effective starting on September 7th.

xbox360.png

September 7th would be a likely date for Microsoft to make price cuts, only because it also happens to be the date that two Xbox 360 exclusive games launch – Square Enix’s Infinite Undiscovery and Rock Band 2 (this game comes out later in the Fall for other systems). If it works as planned, prices will be as follows on September 7th:

  • Xbox Arcade – $199
  • Xbox 60GB Pro – $299
  • Xbox 120GB Elite – $399

Source: Gizmodo

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Amazon rolling out Netflix-like video streaming for Prime subscribers?

Rumors of Amazon either purchasing Netflix or launching a competing option have been circling and now one of our readers says he’s seeing an unlimited video streaming section to complement the current Amazon VOD options. That’s a nice bonus for the $79/year package that currently adds a few free shipping bonuses and it would be cheaper on a yearly basis than Netflix’s Watch Instantly ($95.88.) As seen above and in the gallery, it consists of “unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows” with selections that mirror the Watch Instantly catalog closely. Resolution is apparently limited to a “pretty solid” 480p SD, but there’s no word on audio or subtitle options. We’ll wait to hear if anyone else is seeing a similar page before assuming a wide rollout, but it certainly appears that there could finally be a viable competitor to the Netflix juggernaut.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Amazon rolling out Netflix-like video streaming for Prime subscribers? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon rolling out Netflix-like unlimited video streaming for Prime subscribers?

Rumors of Amazon either purchasing Netflix or launching a competing option have been circling and now one of our readers says he’s seeing an unlimited video streaming section to complement the current Amazon VOD options. That’s a nice bonus for the $79 / year package that currently adds a few free shipping bonuses and it would be cheaper on a yearly basis than Netflix’s Watch Instantly ($95.88.) As seen above and in the gallery, it consists of “unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows” with selections that mirror the Watch Instantly catalog closely. Resolution is apparently limited to a “pretty solid” 480p SD, but there’s no word on audio or subtitle options. We’ll wait to hear if anyone else is seeing a similar page before assuming a wide rollout, but it certainly appears that there could finally be a viable competitor to the Netflix juggernaut.

Update: We weren’t able to pull up the option on any of our Prime-enabled accounts and from the comments it doesn’t appear any of you were either. According to our tipster, the option has disappeared from his page as well. One other interesting note came from commenter vfiz, who found that several variations of the primeinstantvideos.com domain name were registered by Amazon-owned DPReview January 5.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Amazon rolling out Netflix-like unlimited video streaming for Prime subscribers? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 firmware 3.56 hacked in less than a day, Sony’s lawyers look confused

Sony’s taken some strong steps against PS3 cracking in the past week — not only has it taken to the courts and won a temporary restraining order against Geohot and fail0verflow for cracking the console, but it also released firmware 3.56, which locked things down again. Unfortunately, that restraining order doesn’t mean anyone else has to stop a-crackin’, and wouldn’t you know it: 3.56 was cracked open in less than a day by KaKaRoToKS, who was behind one of the first 3.55 custom firmwares. Now that the 3.56 signing keys are out, we’d guess updated custom firmware is soon to come — and we’d bet Sony’s lawsuit will just inspire an entirely new wave of people to jailbreak once those hit the scene. Way to put that genie back in the bottle, Sony.

[Thanks, Tomi R]

PS3 firmware 3.56 hacked in less than a day, Sony’s lawyers look confused originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CVG, Edge  |  sourceKaKaRoToKS’ github, KaKaRoToKS (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

PS3 firmware 3.56 hacked in less than a day, Sony’s lawyers look confused (update)

Sony’s taken some strong steps against PS3 cracking in the past week — not only has it taken to the courts and won a temporary restraining order against Geohot and fail0verflow for cracking the console, but it also released firmware 3.56, which locked things down again. Unfortunately, that restraining order doesn’t mean anyone else has to stop a-crackin’, and wouldn’t you know it: 3.56 was cracked open in less than a day by KaKaRoToKS, who was behind one of the first 3.55 custom firmwares. Now that the 3.56 signing keys are out, we’d guess updated custom firmware is soon to come — and we’d bet Sony’s lawsuit will just inspire an entirely new wave of people to jailbreak once those hit the scene. Way to put that genie back in the bottle, Sony.

Update: We’re hearing that new custom firmware isn’t on the table quite yet, because Sony changed most of the locks, and is reportedly actually storing the all-important ECDSA private key with random-number cryptography this time around. Be warned: if you upgrade to 3.56, there’s no easy way back down. In related news, Github complied with a DMCA takedown notice to remove KaKaRoToKS’s repositories, so you’ll have to head on over to Gitorious (at our more coverage link) to get at the fail0verflow tools.

[Thanks, Tomi R]

PS3 firmware 3.56 hacked in less than a day, Sony’s lawyers look confused (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CVG, Edge  |  sourceKaKaRoToKS (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Daily Downloads: WinMerge and GIMP

This article was written on August 22, 2008 by CyberNet.

winmerge gimp logos icons.jpgWelcome 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.

  • GIMP 2.4.7 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Review]
    Operating System: Windows Windows; Mac Mac; Linux Linux
    Type of Application: Image editor
    Changes: Bug fixes

–Pre-Releases (Alpha, Beta, etc…)–

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

  • WinMerge 2.11.1.4 [Homepage] [Changelog] [Mirror] [Review]
    Operating System: Windows Windows only
    Release: Experimental
    Type of Application: File comparison
    Changes: Bug fixes

–Release Calendar–

  • August – Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 [Review]
  • August – Firefox 3.1 Alpha 2 [Review]
  • September 2 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 [Review]
  • October 30 – Ubuntu 8.10
  • December 18 – openSUSE 11.1 [Review]
  • Late 2008 – Firefox 3.1 [Review]
  • Late 2008 – Internet Explorer 8 [Review]
  • 2009 – Windows Mobile 7 [Review]
  • 2009 – Paint.NET 4.00 [Review]
  • January 2010 – Windows 7 [Review]

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