Kinect keeps surgeons on task, Nintendo 3DS might assist optometrists with diagnoses

The latest generation of gaming gadgets do some nifty tricks, and one of the niftiest they might perform is assisting the realm of medicine. Microsoft’s Kinect sounded like a candidate for surgery, and this month real-life surgeons have actually put it to use — Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Canada rigged the Xbox 360 depth camera to its medical imaging computer. Now, doctors don’t have to scrub out to manipulate an MRI scan, or even appoint a peon to the task — rather, they simply raise their bloodied glove, and dive into the digital imagery with a wave of a dextrous hand.

Meanwhile, the American Optometric Association has expanded upon its initial praise of Nintendo’s 3DS, saying the autostereoscopic 3D handheld “could be a godsend for identifying kids under 6 who need vision therapy.” Though Nintendo’s warning labels had originally incited a bit of fear among parents, the organization says that kids who can’t experience the 3DS to its full potential may have amblyopia (or other vision disorders) that can be more easily treated the earlier it’s caught, though one doctor interviewed by the Associated Press contends that kids with amblyopia may not know what they’re missing to begin with — so don’t necessarily expect a panacea, folks.

Kinect keeps surgeons on task, Nintendo 3DS might assist optometrists with diagnoses originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  sourceAP, The Canadian Press  | Email this | Comments

Subtler Sprint ID arriving on Samsung’s Epic 4G, Galaxy Tab

A less intrusive Sprint ID customization is making its way to two new Android devices, starting today.

Originally posted at CTIA 2011

ASUS to debut Eee Pad Transformer in Taiwan this Friday, Honeycomb confirmed (updated: coming to US in early April)

While we’ve yet to see other Honeycomb tablets materialize in the shops after the Xoom, news has it that ASUS is about to debut its Eee Pad Transformer back in its home country this Friday. There’s still no final pricing to be seen for this Tegra 2 device, but some of our watchful readers have already spotted the stricken-through $799 label — in US dollars, oddly enough — on ASUS’ Transformer countdown page on Facebook, and hopefully this price tag will cover the docking kit as well. Anyhow, anxious Android fans will be able to order this peculiar 10.1-inch slate — in 16GB or 32GB flavor — later this week, so that Taiwanese pen pal of yours will finally come in handy.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update:
We just heard from our ASUS rep here in the US and it looks like the Transformer will be hitting the US market in early April. No word on pricing yet, but we will keep you updated.

ASUS to debut Eee Pad Transformer in Taiwan this Friday, Honeycomb confirmed (updated: coming to US in early April) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Netbook News, Engadget Chinese  |  sourceASUS (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments

Porsche opens 918 Spyder plug-in supercar pre-orders, $845,000 gets you a ticket to ride

Porsche opens 918 Spyder plug-in supercar pre-orders, $845,000 gets you a ticket to ride

It isn’t quite as hot as the 918 RSR, but it is at least street legal. Or, will be, anyway. It’s the 918 Spyder, one of the hottest hybrids we’ve ever seen, and Porsche has now opened the doors for those who want to order them. $845,000 gets you a car with a mid-mounted V8 putting down “at least” 500HP. That’s paired with two electric motors, one front and one rear, which provide an additional 218 horsepower and AWD handling to boot. Unlike the RSR these motors will be powered by a Li-ion battery pack that will offer 16 miles of purely electric range when charged for about seven hours on a standard 110 outlet. More impressively, this carbon-fiber convertible will get to 60MPH in 3.1 seconds (matching the 911 Turbo S we played with last month) yet deliver 78MPG. That’s not quite up to the levels Volvo’s promising for its V60 plug-in diesel, but we’re thinking this bad boy might be a little more fun to drive. What won’t be fun is the wait: the 918 isn’t expected to start shipping until the end of 2013. That gives you plenty of time to build your dream garage — and practice your pronunciation of “Doppelkupplung.”

Continue reading Porsche opens 918 Spyder plug-in supercar pre-orders, $845,000 gets you a ticket to ride

Porsche opens 918 Spyder plug-in supercar pre-orders, $845,000 gets you a ticket to ride originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google and China clash again, this time over Gmail access

Last week we noted, with a growing sense of disquiet, how China was busying itself with locking out VPN access within its borders and, seemingly, preventing people from using their Gmail accounts. Google has now given a public voice to those concerns, noting that “there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.” Other Google tools, like the Person Finder for Japanese tsunami survivors, have also exhibited intermittent issues. China’s goal in these attacks is reportedly to stifle online revolutionary chatter inspired by Egypt’s successful democratic revolt, though the nation’s said to be taking a more clandestine approach than previously by making its alleged sabotage appear like a software problem instead. Guess it’s time to prepare ourselves for another battle of wits between these two.

Google and China clash again, this time over Gmail access originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGuardian  | Email this | Comments

Game developers want DirectX to ‘go away,’ says AMD man

Like a pesky video game villain that just won’t go away, Microsoft’s DirectX has been a mainstay of mainstream PC gaming pretty much since the inception. Its existence hasn’t been without its tensions, however, with notable graphics guru John Carmack of id Software ignoring it in favor of OpenGL — until last week when he finally acknowledged that Direct3D had outgrown its cross-platform alternative and was now the preferable API for PC game development. That’s all well and good, but plenty of game devs, says Richard Huddy, head of AMD’s developer relations team, don’t want any API at all. Huddy points out the sadly obvious fact that modern graphics cards can pretty much stomp any console hardware into the dirt in a straight fight and yet fail to show the full extent of their superiority in actual game visuals. He’d prefer to see developers given direct low-level access to the hardware, so they can maximize their own talents and really push things forward. Of course, the beauty of DirectX is that it’s a standard that every Windows game designer can code to, leading to predictable and more widely compatible (if not necessarily spectacular) results. For more on how the future’s shaping up, hit the links below.

Game developers want DirectX to ‘go away,’ says AMD man originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBit-tech  | Email this | Comments

Nexus S 4G confirmed by Sprint’s own website, first ‘fully integrated’ Google Voice smartphone

in case we didn’t leak this thoroughly enough for your tastes, here’s Sprint spoiling its own surprise: the Nexus S is coming to the Now Network in a 4G flavor. Touted as “Pure Google,” this WiMAX-toting device will be the very first to feature “fully integrated” Google Voice — which we’re told means using only one number for all your calls and permits for things like web calling and voicemail transcription. Pretty snazzy, if you ask us, and potentially even more important than the mere addition of 4G networking. All it took to discover this bit of intel was a casual search for “nexus” on Sprint’s web portal, not exactly the hardest snooping job ever, but we appreciate our eagle-eyed tipster for doing it all the same. Now it’s just a matter of waiting a few more hours until Sprint’s CTIA event to hear the full details of its collaboration with Google.

[Thanks, MTW]

Update: What do you know, Sprint must read Engadget. The offending search topic has now disappeared from its public servers.

Update 2: And now it’s official. $200 on a two-year contract, arriving this spring.

Nexus S 4G confirmed by Sprint’s own website, first ‘fully integrated’ Google Voice smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tweak Vista & XP with XdN Tweaker

This article was written on August 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

XdN TweakerI’m astonished at how many tweaking utilities have been released for Vista thus far. We’ve got TweakVista, VistaTweaker, TweakUAC, Vista Sidebar Styler, and Vispa. Now we’ve got one more that we can append to that list: XdN Tweaker. This one is a little more unique than the others, and the reason for that lies in its cross-compatibility.

This tiny app has customization tweaks that work in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista, Server 2003, and XP. There’s nothing to install…just download and run the tweaker. After you’re done you can safely remove the program, and your changes will remain in place.

There are quite a few different things that you can do with this, but my favorite is the option to disable the black "faded" background that appears behind a UAC prompt. It takes just one click to remove that background, and I actually think the prompts appear faster by having that disabled.

Here’s a mixture of the things that you can customize on both XP and Vista:

  • Changes the number of Folder views Windows saves.
  • Resets the folder views Windows has saved.
  • Add/Remove classic Windows 2000 user control panel icon.
  • Disable/Enable ATI Catalyst Control Center right click on Desktop (only for use if you have an ATI video card and have the Catalyst Control Center installed).
  • Disable/Enable ‘SendTo’ right-click menu.
  • Allows you to adjust and tweak TCP/IP settings.
  • Disable/Enable ZipFolders.
  • Disable/Enable the Outlook Express/Windows Mail splash screen.
  • Put the File menu above the Back/Forward buttons in IE7.
  • Remove or Replace the Search box in IE7.
  • Disable/Enable User Account Control prompts under Vista.
  • Disable/Enable the “- Shortcut” text under Vista.
  • Attempt to force Vista to better save folder views.
  • Disable/Enable Windows Media Player Explorer context menus.
  • Add/Remove “Take Ownership” to right-click menus under Vista.
  • Disable/Enable the Documents item on the Classic Start Menu.
  • Changes “Delete” to “Search…” on Recycle Bin.
  • Turn off the annoying full screen “black” UAC prompt.
  • Add/Remove the Network Connections icon to Control Panel

XdN Tweaker Homepage
Source: Lifehacker

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Samsung, Novatel LTE mobile hotspots said to be hitting Verizon any day now

We haven’t heard much about these since Verizon first showed them off way back at CES, but Phone Arena is reporting that a launch of Samsung and Novatel’s new LTE mobile hotspots is now finally “imminent.” That includes Novatel’s USB551L LTE dongle in addition to the 4510L MiFi, both of which will be Mac-compatible out of the box (unlike Verizon’s first pair of LTE modems), although that functionality has yet to be confirmed for Samsung’s SCH-L11 hotspot. Still no word on pricing for any of them either, but Phone Arena says all three will be receiving a $50 rebate, so a price in line with Verizon’s current, similarly-discounted $99 modems seems likely.

[Thanks, Valentin]

Samsung, Novatel LTE mobile hotspots said to be hitting Verizon any day now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cricket Wireless launches LG Optimus C for $130 off-contract

Just about every other carrier has its own variant of LG’s fast-selling Optimus One smartphone, and you can now even count Cricket Wireless among that group. It recently launched the LG Optimus C, which offers yet another oh-so-slightly-different design along with all the same specs we’ve seen before — a capacitive 3.2-inch HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, a 600MHz processor, and Android 2.2 with some minor LG customizations. That may not sound like much, but we’ve found the other versions of the phone to be surprisingly snappy and solid for such a budget-priced smartphone. That budget pricing of course continues on Cricket, which is offering the phone for just $130 after a $20 web discount and $50 mail-in rebated — and, yes, that’s without a longt-term contract, although you will apparently have to sign up for Cricket’s $55 a month unlimited Android plan to start with.

[Thanks, PHug]

Cricket Wireless launches LG Optimus C for $130 off-contract originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCricket Wireless  | Email this | Comments