Apr 13
Year-over-year growth in shipments of mobile PCs was 30 percent in 2010, but that growth is likely to be 27 percent this year, says a new report from DisplaySearch.
Originally posted at The Digital Home
Apr 13
If your winter was anything like mine, then you spent it lazing about indoors while eating everything in sight. And that’s totally cool, but you probably gained a few unwanted pounds as well. Now that the weather’s getting warm, and you can no longer hide beneath layers of clothing, it’s time to get back in shape. HEY, LET’S GO RUNNING: More »
Apr 13
When do “extra features” become “too many features”? We think it just happened.
Apr 13
FRIDA ‘concept’ robot will solve all of Foxconn’s problems by replacing its workers (video)
Posted in: concept, prototype, robot, Today's Chili, video
Don’t be fooled by the “concept” label that ABB has affixed to its new robot. There can be only one logical conclusion to this endeavor: FRIDA and its ilk will one day replace the millions of young Chinese workers assembling our gadgets. It’s no coincidence that this uniquely agile, dual-arm robot is compact enough to “fit into spaces ergonomically designed for human workers” and can be carried around “easily” to begin work with a minimum of installation requirements. In fact, ABB admits that several prototypes are already being piloted. The obvious advantage for Foxconn and friends is that FRIDA doesn’t require a swimming pool, cafeteria, housing, or professional counseling to keep out of the dormitory nets. Watch FRIDA obey the first law of robotics at the 44 second mark of the video posted after the break as assembly line workers everywhere lament their lack of a handle.
[Thanks, Johannes]
FRIDA ‘concept’ robot will solve all of Foxconn’s problems by replacing its workers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apr 13
Guitar Hero said to not be dead yet, will continue to rock from beyond the grave
Posted in: game, gaming, Today's Chili
It was with heavy heart that we reported in February the Guitar Hero franchise was dead, done in by an addiction to half-baked sequels and a growing tolerance of commercialization. It felt like the series being put out to pasture was for the best, but maybe this old rocker still has some life in its leopard-print pants yet. Dan Winters at Activision sat down with gamesindustry.biz and clarified that “the brand won’t go away,” that the company just isn’t going to release a new one this year. You know what that means: next year you’d better be ready to dust off those flimsy guitars and rock once again like it’s 2009.
Guitar Hero said to not be dead yet, will continue to rock from beyond the grave originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apr 13
The company has petitioned bankruptcy court to give cardholders back up to $2,245 in value, a new report says.
Originally posted at The Digital Home
Apr 13
Velve OLED lighting panels cover a broader spectrum (video)
Posted in: Japan, japanese, light, OLED, Today's Chili, video
The University of Michigan may boast the best blue, but Mitsubishi subsidiary Verbatim is showing off OLED lighting of a different color; several of them, actually. Demonstrated this week at the Fuori Salone show in Milan, these 14 x 14 cm Velve-branded lighting panels are amongst the first color tunable OLED light panels, giving off what Verbatim calls “colourful lighting with a luxurious feel; as smooth and as rich as velvet.” Velve. Velvet. See what they did there? Sample Kits will be available in Japan later this month for ¥90,000 ($1,063), and Verbatim hopes to see the technology put to use in consumer products by the end of the year. Suddenly white light OLEDs look positively old hat — here’s hoping the price comes down before we burn through our incandescent stockpile.
Velve OLED lighting panels cover a broader spectrum (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apr 13
Flips! Dead, killed, gone, and murdered by smartphones. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad little buggers. Hell, for the right discounted price, Flips can still be awesome little video recording machines. Here are the cheapest places to score a Flip before they all disappear. More »
Apr 13
Addonics SATA adapter turns six CF / CFast cards into one SSD
Posted in: adapter, hard drive, HardDrive, memory, SSD, Today's Chili
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a CF-to-SATA hard drive adapter, but Addonics’ CF / CFast Drive is definitely the biggest. The thing sports six separate slots, which means you can use it to turn your memory cards into six different drives, or combine them in a RAID configuration to form a high capacity SSD. What’s more, the whole thing fits comfortably in a standard 5.25-inch drive bay. If you’ve got a stack of CF cards collecting dust somewhere, you can get your hands on one of these bad boys starting at $135 at the source link below. Full PR after the break.Continue reading Addonics SATA adapter turns six CF / CFast cards into one SSD
Addonics SATA adapter turns six CF / CFast cards into one SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apr 13
iRobot agrees to provide US Navy with bomb disposal and recon bots in a deal worth up to $230 million
Posted in: deal, military, robot, Robots, Today's Chili, wargadget
iRobot may still be best known as the creator of the homely Roomba vacuum-cleaning drone, but savvy readers will know the company’s endeavors span a pretty broad range of robot-related activities. One of those has now borne fruit in the shape of a multiyear agreement with the US Navy for the provision of “portable robotic systems” that can identify and dispose of explosives while also performing a bit of reconnaissance work in their spare time. The announcement doesn’t tell us the particular model(s) or number of bots that will be provided, but there is clarification to say that iRobot will be responsible for providing spares, repairs, training, and accessories along with the hardware, with the total revenue for the company potentially swelling to $230 million over the full course of the contract, which lasts through 2015. Our guess is that the “throwable” robot shown off a couple of weeks back would be a good candidate for this task, though we doubt it’ll be thanking us for endorsing it for such perilous work.
iRobot agrees to provide US Navy with bomb disposal and recon bots in a deal worth up to $230 million originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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