Jul 19
Float, Scribd’s new mobile reading platform, delivers a customized reading experience to the iPhone and iPod Touch, and eventually other mobile devices.
Originally posted at News – Digital Media
Jul 19
Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro slides through the FCC, gets turned inside out
Posted in: Android, gingerbread, Google, hspa, sony, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili
It’s been a long road for the Xperia Pro, but the little sliding QWERTY phone from Sony Ericsson finally appears to be nearing release. After getting manhandled, posing for a few glamor shots, and going up for pre-order, the 900MHz and 2100MHz HSPA friendly handset has, months after its unveiling, glided through the FCC. Granted, those bands don’t do American fans of SE’s Android customizations much good but, on the plus side, the Pro now appears to be sporting ANT+ for all your fitness tracking needs. Unfortunately, the September delivery date still stands, so our friends across the pond will just have remain patient.
Gallery: Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro slides through the FCC, gets turned inside out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jul 19
Samsung Patent Creates Shallow Depth-of-Field in Digicams
Posted in: patents, Phones, samsung, Today's Chili
Samsung’s imaginary cameras uses depth information from two lenses to blur backgrounds
With their tiny lenses and even tinier sensors, will cellphone cameras ever be able to take photos as good as those from SLRs and Micro Four Thirds cameras? The quality has all but been taken care of with the latest phone-cams, but there’s one problem common to all point-and-shoots: Their tremendous depth-of-field. A patent from Samsung shows how this could be fixed.
Depth-of-field is the amount of front-to-back sharpness in a photograph. Lots of it means that almost everything, near and far, will be in focus. A shallow depth-of-field (DOF) means almost nothing will be sharp other than what you actually focus on. Large sensors and wide-open apertures give shallow DOF, and let you pop your subject out from a blurred background.
Before and after: Blurred backgrounds from tiny cellphone-camera sensors
Samsung’s fix for small sensors actually uses two cameras in one, almost like a stereoscopic camera. The main one takes the shot as usual whilst a lower resolution camera takes another shot. The offset between them lets the camera work out the depth of anything in the frame. This information is then processed and digital blur applied to wash out the background.
It’s an idea that is already used, more or less, by the iPhone app Synthcam. The app combines stills from a video stream to calculate depth. Samsung’s version doesn’t rely on you shooting a shaky video, though, so it would be more or less invisible to the user.
Like most patents, we have no idea whether this will ever make it to market. But at least it shows that somebody is looking at the last big reason not to use a cameraphone for all your snapshooting.
Samsung Working on DSLR-like Bokeh for Compact Cameras [Photography Bay]
Samsung Patent Application (PDF) [USPTO]
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Jul 19
CM Storm Sirus gaming headset hands-on
Posted in: hands-on, HandsOn, headset, preview, Today's Chili
CM Storm — Cooler Master’s gaming-centric spinoff — is best known for PC cases, precision mouse-pads, and PC gaming mice with catchy names like “Inferno,” and “Sentinel.” There’s more to PC games than computer towers and input devices however, and CM Storm is ready to try its hand at the personal audio game. Enter the CM Storm Sirus, the outfit’s first foray into the world of gaming headsets, available today to the tune of $130. We strapped a pair of these ‘muffs to our noggin to give you our honest impressions, ears-on.
Gallery: CM Storm Sirus headset hands-on
Continue reading CM Storm Sirus gaming headset hands-on
CM Storm Sirus gaming headset hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jul 19
Call of Duty Fans, Meet Turtle Beach’s Ear Force Headsets
Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, audio, gaming, Today's Chili
The Ear Force Delta headset is designed for the most serious COD fans. It even comes with game themed presets and voice prompts.
If you’ve been counting down the days to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, here’s something that will help tide you over: these limited edition Ear Force gaming headsets.
That’s right: you can lay some claymores, hunker down, and listen to the sweet sounds of your enemies retreating with a comfy set of custom cans clamped on your ears.
Turtle Beach and Activision teamed up to create four pairs of Modern Warfare-themed headsets: DELTA, BRAVO, CHARLIE and FOXTROT (and just in case you’re wondering, my Caps Lock key did not get stuck as I was writing that).
The headsets range from the $100 FOXTROT to the $300 DELTA. FOXTROT is a wired universal gaming headset; CHARLIE, an eight speaker surround sound PC gaming headset; BRAVO, a programmable wireless pair; and DELTA is the set’s top-of-the-line Dolby 7.1 surround sound programmable wireless model.
All four headsets are compatible across Xbox 360, PC, and Playstation 3 platforms.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is set to release November 8.
Jul 19
Review: Seagate GoFlex Satellite wireless hard drive
Posted in: external hard drive, Gadgets, hard drive, Reviews, satellite, storage, Today's Chili, usb 3.0The phrase “wireless hard drive” probably isn’t one you’ve heard before, but Seagate has gone ahead and done it–got an external hard drive and slapped on a battery and wireless router. With this $200 contraption people can stream video, music, and images to their portable devices (though it’s basically designed to work with the iPad and […]
Jul 19
Turtle Beach unveils limited edition Modern Warfare 3 headsets, Simon Riley would’ve approved
Posted in: bluetooth, earphones, game, headset, Today's Chili, Wireless, xbox live, XboxLive
Listen up, soldier. Engadget HQ was dismayed when lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley — along with his skull balaclava and mondo communications headset — saw an arguably unjust demise in Modern Warfare 2. That being said, if he could play the upcoming installment we’d bet it’d be with one of the four limited edition offerings from Turtle Beach and Activision. The headsets all sport the same night vision-esque design, but offer varying specialties. On the front line is the $300 Ear Force Delta; based on the XP500 programmable virtual 7.1 headset, it adds a custom travel-case and MW3 specific sound presets. Next up is the $150 Ear Force Bravo, a variant of the PX3, which offers the same presets as the former in wireless stereo. Following close in formation is the $130 Ear Force Charlie, a take on the PC oriented Z6A; it delivers discrete 5.1 with a grand total of eight drivers. Rounding out the reserves is the $100 Ear Force Foxtrot; a PX21 universal stereo headset that’s also just received a fresh coat of battle paint.
All of the gear will be available in October along with “bonus content,” which gives you time to set aside extra funds for the game’s November 8th release. You’ll find photo-based intel below and more details in the PR past the break. At ease, soldier.
Turtle Beach unveils limited edition Modern Warfare 3 headsets, Simon Riley would’ve approved originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Jul 19
You are watching aviation history. This is the first U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II ever, the first step towards a new fleet full of stealth strike fighters. It’s fully operative and combat ready. The image gallery is bee-ooh-tee-ful. More »
Jul 19
This article was written on August 11, 2006 by CyberNet.
If you’re looking for an alternative for managing your windows, GroupBar, a free application designed for Windows XP is a good solution. This application makes it easy to group applications together.gHacks gives an example of grouping Firefox, an email client, and your instant messenger together. After they’ve been grouped together they can be started and minimized from the sidebar at once. This would be useful for those programs you use everyday like the ones mentioned, and the ones that you always use together. Groupbar doesn’t have to be installed, rather just download it and start GroupBar.exe.
News Source: LifeHacker
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
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- CyberNotes: Do more with your Windows TaskbarCyberNotes: Always Group Similar Taskbar Buttons in WindowsHow to Clean Up Your DesktopCyberNotes: Windows Explorer Groups and Stacks in VistaWhere You Can Find Free Portable Applications
Jul 19
China’s Baidu licenses music from major US record labels for streaming and downloads
Posted in: sony, Today's Chili
In a move suggesting they might be ready to accept the realities of the internet era, major US record labels have reached a deal with Chinese search engine company Baidu. The agreement between the search giant and One-Stop China, a joint venture of Universal, Warner and Sony BMG, will result in licensed tracks popping up in searches instead of pirated ones and resolve years of legal wrangling between the two sides. Baidu launched its ting! social music service earlier this year with support from local labels and EMI, while this new deal will see labels paid per-play, per-download and from advertising. Between this and the recent launch of Spotify in the US the cheap and easy fun of music piracy is slipping away rapidly, if record labels continue to act sensibly then illegal downloads will soon be limited to hipsters ironically cracking open vintage editions of Soulseek.
China’s Baidu licenses music from major US record labels for streaming and downloads originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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