Hasta La Gadget!

Cricket Wireless adds to its smartphone portfolio with the Samsung Indulge.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

A portable desktop tower with three LCDs mounted on its side, you say? Why yes, there is such a thing. At Computex, we spotted SSI’s camouflaged booth demoing this eccentric Spark S9T rig: a rugged ATX case sporting a handle, a keyboard with a touchpad, plus three 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD panels. As you’ve probably already guessed, the keyboard and the screens can be folded up for storage convenience. Let’s be clear, though: you’ll still need to find a wall socket to power this beastly machine, but such all-in-one solution should still appeal to video editors, military personnel, or even gamers that are regularly on the road. Alas, we couldn’t get a price for single purchases, but feel free to check out the full detail over at SSI’s website — maybe a nice postcard will get you a deal.

SSI’s rugged Spark S9T brings triple-screen computing to power-hungry road warriors (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The cardboard Kranium beats regular helmets in almost every way

Kranium is a bike helmet that is made from the same cardboard used for the boxes you find at the supermarket. This material, along with some clever construction, turns out to be a lot better at absorbing impact than the more usual polystyrene-filled lids.

Anirudha Surabhi’s design absorbs four times more impact energy that the polystyrene equivalent, and — unlike regular helmets which break on impact — it survives longer. One Kranium was smashed five times in a row and still passed the British Standard (EN 1078) test.

What about rains and sweat? No problem. Surabhi’s helmets mix the cardboard with a “waterproof acrylic compound” which makes them just as rain-resistant as the helmet you have now.

The Kranium is better than regular helmets in another way too. Because they are easy to build to order by scanning the buyer’s head and cutting the cardboard to order, it fits perfectly. This means that it will stay in place if you crash, offering much better protection.

Surabhi’s design has already been licensed by some major manufacturers, so this is one student project that may make it into stores.

Kranium project [Anirudharao via London Cyclist]

See Also:

• Blink: Touch-Sensitive Bike Lights Built Into Helmet
• Video: Terrifying 'Shaving Helmet' is a Skull-Scraping Hard-Hat …
• Helmet-Cam Mount for Last-Gen iPod Nano
• Prototype Bike-Helmet Stinks When Damaged
• Tunebug Turns Your Bike Helmet into a Speaker

Apple threw quite the wireless party by introducing PC Free and iCloud at yesterday’s WWDC keynote, but it seems that the engineers in Cupertino may have even more tricks up their sleeve. Judging by a recently filed patent application, the company’s hoping to add charging to its list of cord-cutting services. Specifically, the patent describes building a NFMR (near-field magnetic resolution) power supply directly into your iMac so it can charge your iPhone, iPad, or even peripherals — such as a keyboard or mouse, when equipped with a special antenna — without the assistance of your ol’ trusty charging cords or batteries. Sporting a somewhat mature iMac that’s operating sans NFMR? Pop a special USB dongle in that bad boy and presto, you’re good to go. The patent points out that the range is limited to one meter, though there may be ways to install repeaters in peripherals to extend that distance further. Of course, patents won’t guarantee we’ll be grabbing the scissors to cut our cords anytime soon, but at least we won’t have to rely on these things for the rest of eternity.

Filed under: Wireless

Apple patent app sheds light on wireless charging dreams, NFMR love affair originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does that bulky black plastic surround look familiar? It’s becoming standard uniform for Android tablets at the $250 price point like the Nook Color and now ViewSonic’s latest offering, the ViewBook 730. Basic specs also look pretty similar — the ViewBook has a 7-inch screen (albeit with a 800×480 resolution, lower than the Nook’s), 8GB of internal storage and an SD card slot. But the 730 does have some significant advantages over its older rival: notably a front-facing VGA camera and a faster 1Ghz Cortex-A8 processor (versus 800Mhz on the Nook Color) that claims to handle 1080p video and output it via an HDMI port. Plus there’s full Android 2.2 instead of the Nook Color’s walled-off ecosphere. Interestingly, the ViewBook also tries to distinguish itself with stylus support for note-taking — akin to the HTC Flyer. Goes to show you can’t judge a multi-function e-reader by its bezel. Hit the PR after the break to see if this budget tablet will tick your boxes when it arrives at the end of June.

Continue reading ViewSonic announces $250 ViewBook 730 tablet, steps on Nook Color’s turf

ViewSonic announces $250 ViewBook 730 tablet, steps on Nook Color’s turf originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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