Apr 18
CNET’s Donald Bell goes hands-on with the Acer Iconia A500 Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet, offering his initial take
Originally posted at Android Atlas
Apr 18
Nokia launches Ovi Maps 3D beta, challenges Google Earth as your virtual tour guide of choice
Posted in: maps, navigation, nokia, Today's Chili, video
Still searching for today’s internet time sink? Then look no further than Nokia’s just launched beta version of Ovi Maps 3D. Thanks to some software wizardry and mysterious mapping know-how, it’s now able to display cities in a new 3D view that you’re able to zoom in and around to your heart’s content. You can also do the same thing in Google Earth’s 3D view, of course, but Nokia just might have a leg up in some respects. Unfortunately, it’s still staying mum on exactly how it all works, but you can dive right in and start exploring for yourself at the link below.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: Nokia’s now finally gotten official with this on its blog, and revealed that C3 is responsible for the impressive 3D mapping technology. Hit up the links below for some additional details, and head on past the break for a quick video demo if you need a bit of incentive to install the necessary plug-in.
Nokia launches Ovi Maps 3D beta, challenges Google Earth as your virtual tour guide of choice originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apr 18
Apr 18
Arduino geiger counter brings open source radiation detection to the geeky masses (video)
Posted in: arduino, diy, hack, homebrew, Japan, open source, opensource, Today's Chili, video
Need to detect radiation? We sure hope not — but if you’re looking for a straight-forward, altogether geeky geiger counter, the Libelium gang has your back. En route to the Tokyo Hackerspace as we speak (and believe us, they need it), the Radiation Sensor Board for Arduino is a low-cost alternative to existing devices. It’s available now either with a compatible geiger tube for €95 ($135) or without for €65 ($50). Hit up the source link to get started, but not before peeping the thing in action after the break. Is there anything you can’t do with Arduino?
Arduino geiger counter brings open source radiation detection to the geeky masses (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apr 18
Fresh from settling his litigation with Sony, famed hacker gives the remainder of his donation-based legal fund to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Apr 18
Such a deal: By year’s end, you can lease an electric BMW 1 Series, the ActiveE, for $499 a month if you’re part of a trial that kicks off in six major urban areas: San Diego, LA, San Franciso, Sacramento, Boston, and New York. Range should be about 100 miles using lithium-ion batteries. You’ll be able to impress neighbors with the usual electric car party tricks such as showing everyone the state of charge of your smartphone (photo below), and a couple new-with-BMW tricks such as pre-heating or pre-cooling the car while it’s still plugged in (to extend range). And of course it’s going to handle like a BMW, something the Nissan Leaf can’t claim.
Apr 18
Am I Worthy of an Electric Car? (Yes, There’s an App for That)
Posted in: electric car, Today's Chili
“Is an electric car for me?” BMW Monday announced Evolve, a platform-agnostic smartphone app that tracks your current driving habits and distances, then tells you if you’re a candidate for an electric car with its typical 100-mile driving range. It’s out for the iPhone now and is due on Android by month’s end.
Apr 18
Apple to Samsung: Stop Stealing Our Ideas
Posted in: Apple, ipad, iPhone, samsung, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili
Apple claims the Galaxy Tab (right) is a shameless copy of the iPad (left). Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Apple says it’s sick and tired of Samsung ripping off the iPad and iPhone, and the Cupertino, California, company is filing papers.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, Apple accused Samsung of committing patent and trademark infringement with its Galaxy line of mobile products. That includes the Galaxy S smartphone and the Galaxy Tab tablet.
“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” an Apple representative said in a statement provided to All Things Digital. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”
Samsung is also a supplier of components to Apple, and manufactures at least some of the A4 and A5 processors used inside the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, as well as solid-state disk drives used in many Apple products.
Tech giants are already tangled in a number of patent lawsuits filed in years past related to smartphones. Nokia filed suit against Apple in 2009 for patent infringement, Apple filed a patent lawsuit against HTC in 2010, and Microsoft has gone after Google’s partners offering Android-powered products.
In the suit filed against Samsung, Apple contends that Samsung is copying Apple’s products on both the hardware and software levels.
For instance, Apple says the Galaxy Tab “slavishly copies” Apple’s product design, using a rectangular body with rounded corners, a black border and an array of app icons similar to the iPad’s.
Apple also names the Galaxy S, Epic 4G and the Nexus S smartphones, according to a brief report in The Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit filing has yet to appear in the official PACER database.
Wired.com noted last year that the Samsung Vibrant, the predecessor of the Galaxy S, strongly resembles the iPhone.
See Also:
- Apple Tries Short-Circuiting Droid With Patent Lawsuit
- Patent Lawsuit Threatens to Clip Twitter’s Wings
- TomTom To Contest Microsoft Patent Lawsuit
- Paul Allen Files Patent Lawsuits Against Entire Web … Except Microsoft
Apr 18
PDF Mix Up Reveals Classified British Submarine Flaws
Posted in: military, security, Today's Chili, Weird News
The British Ministry of Defense thought they had done everything right when they released a declassified report on the flaws and design weaknesses in several of their nuclear submarines. Unfortunately, as soon as the declassified – and heavily edited, with a great deal of information redacted – report was released, readers determined that in order to redact much of the text, the background color around the classified text had just been changed to black.
This meant that while a reader looking at the PDF couldn’t make out what the redacted text said visually, they could still highlight the text and see it, and more importantly they could highlight the entire document’s text, copy it, and paste it into a new document and read it without any of the redaction in place. All of the still-classified information would be visible and plain as day.
The bulk of the classified information had to do with design flaws in the submarines and their nuclear reactors, and details about how much damage the submarines would have to take before the reactor core would melt down. In addition, classified information on US disaster policies and procedures on-board military vessels were also in the document, and revealed just as easily.
For their part, the MoD has removed the document and replaced it with one that’s been correctly redacted, but once the information is available, it’s out there forever. To make matters worse, the information is relevant to a current generation of nuclear submarines in service in the British Navy – many of which will be in service for years to come.
[via BBC]
Apr 18
Game Boy Gutted, Turned into a Nintendo 3DS Case
Posted in: 3ds, diy, Games, mod, nintendo, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games
If you don’t remember quite how large the original Game Boy really was, this DIY hack will remind you. One proud 3DS owner looking for an unassuming but still geeky case for his shiny new handheld console decided that his old original Nintendo Game Boy would make a perfect carrying case.
The modder, named “Goteking,” gutted the original Game Boy of all of its components, but kept the shell, the buttons, and the screen intact. He printed some paper cut-outs of the start screens of his favorite games, and affixed them where the Game Boy’s LCD screen used to be. Next, he attached a hinge to the left side of the Game Boy and a clasp to the right side.
With a little sanding down, it just happens that the interior of a Game Boy – with everything else removed – is just the right size to slip a 3DS inside. He repeated the process with a newer Game Boy model with a translucent plastic body, and got the same results. Once the 3DS is inside, you can’t even tell it’s in there: it just looks like an ordinary Game Boy.
You can see a video of the case behind the jump.
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