Following the Fukushima disaster, Germany’s decided that its 17 nuclear power plants will either stay closed, or be shut down in the next 11 years, despite relying on nuclear power for almost 23 per cent of its energy. More »
Phone cameras still have a ways to go to catch up to the awesome capabilities of your standard DSLR, but the handset captured in the image above would certainly get them headed in the right direction. International phone review superstar Eldar Murtazin snapped a few shots of an as-of-yet unnamed HTC device running Windows Phone. It sports a look very similar to the HTC Trophy, although this particular gem is capable of capturing images at 12 megapixel resolution — comparable to the Nokia N8. We can tell from Eldar’s tweets and images, however, that it’s gone one step further by adding support for pictures in RAW format. We’re still waiting to get more information about this device, but for now we invite you to enjoy the images above and below.
Continue reading Mystery HTC Windows Phone sports 12 megapixel goodness, RAW support
Mystery HTC Windows Phone sports 12 megapixel goodness, RAW support originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 07:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Twitter (1), (2) | Email this | Comments
We just got to spend some quality time with ASUS’ newly unveiled Padfone and you can see the smartphone that doubles up as a tablet on video after the break. It’s still a mere mockup for now, but ASUS has big plans for it — plans that coalesce around the Christmas period and the very latest version of Android at that time. ASUS’ Benson Lin was careful not to openly admit the company intends to ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, but he did point out that you can’t launch a smartphone with Honeycomb as the OS. We were encouraged to draw our own conclusions.
The smartphone is actually the only smart aspect of this hardware pair — the slate part acts as a display, a set of speakers, an extended battery, and an I/O extender, but it doesn’t work by itself. ASUS also tells us there’ll be other functionality enabled by the tablet panel, but that’s being kept under wraps for now. Compatibility between the display dock and subsequent phone generations is being contemplated but couldn’t be confirmed, and as to the UI, ASUS says it’ll be almost the same as its second-gen Android tablets. You heard that right, second generation ASUS Android tablets — to succeed the Transformer and Slider — will be coming around the same time as the Padfone.
Gallery: ASUS Padfone first hands-on
ASUS targets Christmas for Padfone launch, hints at Ice Cream Sandwich (video hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 06:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
RFID tags are already used to trace everything from poker chips to hotel towels, but what if these little pellets were embedded directly within your lunch, providing everything you’d ever wanna know about that ham sandwich you’re about to beast? That’s the idea behind NutriSmart — a food tracking system that revolves around edible RFID tags. Developed by Hannes Harms, a design engineering student at the Royal College of Art in London, these little markers would allow consumers to trace the entire supply chain behind every item in their cupboard, while feeding valuable nutritional information to dieters or people with particularly dangerous food allergies. Kodak, as you may recall, came up with a similar idea a few years ago, though Harms’ prototype extends beyond the realm of medical monitoring. Properly equipped refrigerators, for example, would be able to alert users whenever their stock’s about to expire, simply by scanning the tags. The NutriSmart concept also calls for a smart plate, which Harms describes as an “invisible diet management system.” Just put your meal on the plate and an embedded reader will analyze your grub, tell you how many miles it traveled before arriving at your kitchen and transmit all of its history and caloric data to your phone, via Bluetooth. No word yet on what would happen to these tags post-digestion, though our inner 13-year-olds are giggling at the possibilities. Video after the break.
NutriSmart prototype embeds RFID tags directly within food, traces your lunch from start to finish (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 06:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Remember how we speculated that the final Eee Pad MeMO may come with a 3D display, courtesy of its teaser? Turns out we were right after all, as ASUS’ Jonney Shih has just confirmed a glassesless 3D, 1280 x 800 IPS display for this 7-inch Honeycomb slate, which is now dubbed Eee Pad MeMO 3D. We’re also told that the accompanying MeMIC Bluetooth headset will be thrown into the box, though we’re still waiting on dates and prices. Until then check out the gallery below and hear our first second third impressions in the video after the break.
Continue reading ASUS Eee Pad MeMO to come with glassesless 3D IPS display (update: video!)
ASUS Eee Pad MeMO to come with glassesless 3D IPS display (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
We recently blogged about the Panasonic solar powered inductive charging table which was on show at this year’s Retail Expo. Following on from this NTT docomo displayed their own version at Wireless Japan, the “Okudake Charger” literally meaning “just place it”.
Combined with Panasonic’s Eneloop battery, Docomo have already announced that one of their new smartphones, to be launched this sumer, will be powered by the wireless charging compatible battery. The technology uses similar electromagnetic induction coil charging, the position of the coil being automatically adjusted to achieve the most efficient charging system. The battery itself, rather than the phone, contains the component and begins charging automatically when placed on the pad.
With the technology going into full production and featured in this years phone models, Docomo have already announced partnerships with ANA Airways, Toho Cinemas and the Pronto coffee shop chain. The system has been developed to comply with the international Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) Qi standard and will be able to be used with any device that uses the Qi batteries including cameras, mobile games consoles or video cameras. A consortium of Asia, European and American companies, WPC, means that we could also start to see products that can be charged in any country regardless of the ampage. Getting rid of the need to buy cumbersome socket adapters would be a welcome bonus to those who frequently travel internationally across different continents.
Related Posts:
NTT Docomo Vision 2010 future predictions revisited
Softbank bringing Ustream to Japan
Docomo’s Updated Bike Sharing Service
If pads and phones are the fastest growing categories in consumer tech, surely a Padfone would be the ultimate combo? That’s what ASUS thinks, and it’s just introduced an Android smartphone device that comes with a tablet it can dock into. Display switching is done dynamically, so that reading emails or browsing the web on the phone portion expands itself seamlessly once it’s connected into the pad. Also expanded will be battery life, with an extra cell included in the slate. The mockup ASUS is showing the world today includes a 4.3-inch smarpthone and a 10.1-inch tablet dock, but the company says it hasn’t yet settled on the final dimensions of the eventual retail product. Other details, such as the particular version of Android, are still light on the ground, but we’ll try to squeeze more info out while we’re at Computex.
Update: And now we have more pics of Jonney Shih showing off the Padfone, along with the press release and ASUS’ promo video after the break. Enjoy!
Update 2: Our buds at Netbooknews caught Jonney Shih’s unveiling of the Padfone live on video. Watch with wide-eyed wonderment after the break. How you like them magics, Apple?
Gallery: ASUS Padfone eyes-on
Gallery: ASUS Padfone press shots
Gallery: ASUS announces the Padfone
Continue reading ASUS announces the Padfone (update: eyes-on!)
ASUS announces the Padfone (update: eyes-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Google flight schedule search takes off, helps you figure out when to get aboard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
The Huffington Post | Google | Email this | Comments
The thickest part of this new laptop is 17mm, its entire body is built from an aluminum alloy (weighs 1.1kg / 2.4lb), and the CPUs can be specced as high as Core i7. Anything else you need to know before drooling all over yourself? How about a two-second resume from sleep, thanks to ASUS’ proprietary software, a SATA III SSD, USB 3.0 connectivity, and the ability to hibernate for up to one week? The trackpad is made out of glass, while the keyboard keys are all metal. ASUS projects the launch of its shiny new UX21 in September, and you can see more of it in the gallery below or video after the break.
Gallery: ASUS UX21 hands-on
Continue reading ASUS outs UX21 ultrathin laptop with up to Core i7 CPUs (video hands-on!)
ASUS outs UX21 ultrathin laptop with up to Core i7 CPUs (video hands-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 03:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
ASUS is starting off its bevy of Computex announcements with the new Eee PC X101, a netbook that gives the 11-inch MacBook Air a run for its ultrathin money — with a 950g weight and 17.6mm thickness — while running either Windows 7 or… wait for it, Meego! The latter model will come out at the groundbreaking price of just $200. Check out its scarlet construction in the gallery below or jump past the break for our video hands-on.
Gallery: ASUS Eee PC X101 hands-on
Continue reading ASUS Eee PC X101 runs MeeGo, costs only $200 (video hands-on!)
ASUS Eee PC X101 runs MeeGo, costs only $200 (video hands-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 03:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
