The future of marching bands is about to change. And although that might not sound very exciting to those of us who aren’t marching band aficionados, an impressive new technology may change not only the way marching band music is played, but also instruments of all kinds in the future thanks to an open-source project […]
With Tegra 2 hogging the spotlight, sometimes it’s easy to forget that NVIDIA is still primarily in the business of making GPUs for computers. Yet, here it is with the GeForce GTX 560, another graphics chip ready to be inserted into mid-range gaming rigs. This smaller sibling of the GTX 560 Ti is designed to plug right into a small price gap in the company’s lineup — right around the $200 mark. The 336 CUDA cores inside this second-gen Fermi card, predictably, perform slightly better than the GTX 460 and fall just short of the 560 Ti, but it does eke out a victory over similarly priced competition from AMD. The only thing that kept reviewers from wholeheartedly endorsing the various (and often overclocked) flavors of the 560 was the tiny difference in price between it and its relatives — tacking on the letters Ti and its 48 additional stream processors costs as little as $15 after a mail-in rebate. Check out the reviews below for all the benchmarks your little nerd heart can handle. And don’t miss the video of a GTX 560 plowing through Duke Nukem Forever, Alice: Madness Returns, and Dungeon Siege III at the more coverage link.
Read – Tech Report
Read – AnandTech
Read – Tom’s Hardware
Read – Guru 3D
NVIDIA’s GTX 560 desktop GPU fills an exceedingly narrow pricing niche originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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CNET editor Dong Ngo gives his take on IoSafe’s disaster-resistant portable hard drive, the Rugged Portable.
Last week Garmin announced the latest member of its high-end GPS navigator family, the nuLink! 2390. Sadly, it was a Europe only affair, leaving American consumers wondering why the company was giving us the cold shoulder. (Whatever it was baby, we’re sorry, come back.) Then we spotted an unnamed 4.3-inch Garmin making its way through the FCC that matches up quite nicely, size- and feature-wise, with the 2390. The newest nuLink-enabled device is even showing its face over at the company’s US website (you really do love us!), though it’s not available to order and you’ll have to do some serious digging to unearth it. Whenever it does hit American shores you’ll be able to pull in 3D traffic data and search Google thanks to its GSM radio and tether your phone to it using Bluetooth for hands-free calls. It also has voice recognition software so you can furiously bark commands at it when you miss a turn and a tracking feature for keeping tabs on unruly teens. If you’re into seeing gadgets splayed open like an organ transplant patient check out the gallery below.
Gallery: Garmin NuLink 2390 at the FCC
Garmin nuLink! 2390 torn apart by FCC, put back together again on US site originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 16:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Engines are overrated. The Gamera human-powered helicopter managed its first flight with a record-setting attempt at the University of Maryland.
This week: We search for the elusive 11-inch version of Samsung’s Series 9 laptop, which is allegedly in-stock at a single online retailer, check in on the still-ailing PlayStation Network, hear a bit about NYC’s plan to become a leading “digital city.” Then it’s quiz time, as we stump the gang with some ThinkPad trivia.
Bonus: Download the show’s jaunty theme song as a free MP3 here.
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Originally posted at Digital City Podcast
Hey, do you like things that sound good? That’s funny, we do too. In a world jam-packed with mass-produced, perfectly adequate home-theater-in-a-box solutions, it can be really hard to differentiate between speaker solutions for your computer, TV, or stereo system. It takes a lot for small-scale, high-quality systems to stand out and justify their costs, especially when entire surround kits can be had for under a hundred bucks. But like that song said that one time, you can’t put a price tag on love. Orb Audio’s eponymously constructed speakers are little works of art that you can rearrange to suit your taste, budget, and decor — but are they a good solution for you? It’s a good question! Read on to find out just how the Orb family might or might not be the best decision you’ve ever made.
Gallery: Orb Audio modular speaker systems
Continue reading Orb Audio modular stereo speaker systems review
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Orb Audio modular stereo speaker systems review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well, that was fast. Almost immediately after Google unveiled Android 3.1, Motorola was first out of the gate with an update, and now, not even a week later, Acer and ASUS are following suit with plans to freshen up their respective tablets with the newly minted software. To recap, 3.1’s benefits include resizeable widgets, support for USB peripherals, and new Movies and Books apps, among other perks. Acer confirmed to us that it aims to start selling the Iconia Tab A500 with 3.1 next month, as well as upgrade existing units running Android 3.0. ASUS, meanwhile, has been touting the impending update for the Eee Pad Transformer on its Italian Facebook page. To which we say, grazie!
Acer Iconia Tab A500 and ASUS Eee Pad Transformer getting Android 3.1 updates in June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Gallery: KDDI INFOBAR A01
Continue reading KDDI announces Android-based INFOBAR A01 smartphone with glanceable iida UI
KDDI announces Android-based INFOBAR A01 smartphone with glanceable iida UI originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google speeds up its signature search app for the iPhone, disabling one default feature to hasten the searching process.
Originally posted at iPhone Atlas
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