Hasta La Gadget!

It’s always fun to write your name on things — chalkboards, diplomas, speeding tickets, yellow snow… you know, the usual. The folks at Boeing couldn’t agree more, which is why they tasked 747-8 pilots with writing the jet’s name in the sky on a flight test across the US. What could be called the “747-8 wuz here” mission is designed to test the outer limits of the jumbo jet in a max endurance operations test. Taking off yesterday morning from Seattle’s Paine Field, the jet flew across 18 states in a 747 pattern until it landed on the west coast a little after midnight — 17 total hours of mayhem. It seems like everything went swimmingly, which means the brand spanking new jet will be sold to Cargolux, a ginormous cargo airline, later this year. The jet writing does somewhat resemble a drunken righty’s attempt at left-handed writing, but hey, who are we to judge?

Visualized: Boeing 747-8 makes its longest flight to date, writes name in the sky originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Say it with us now: “Huzzah!” For years, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon brand has been held back from general understanding by one thing: befuddling model numbers. Hearing about an MSM 8255 doesn’t really stick with the average consumer, and even for members of the press (and folks neck-deep in the supply channel), it wasn’t exactly easy to keep track of. In a bid to put on a more consumer-facing suit, Qually has announced its intentions to move away from complex processor names and move towards a simpler “series” model. For now, you’ll find S1, S2, S3 and S4, with “1′ being a mass market device and “4” being the product you actually want. The slide just after the break explains where the cutoffs are for each level, but curiously enough, it sounds as if more of these will be added as technologies improve, speeds increase and capabilities soar. In other words, we hope your great-grandson is eager to get his hands on a Snapdragon S498. Wait, wasn’t this suppose to reduce complexities?

Continue reading Qualcomm overhauls complex naming scheme, introduces simpler Snapdragon levels

Qualcomm overhauls complex naming scheme, introduces simpler Snapdragon levels originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Designed by the model-maker for Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the 2,100 medals created for the 2012 Olympics are the heaviest medals that’ll ever hang around a summer games athlete’s neck yet, at 400grams each. More »

Unless you’ve got a penchant for going the ultralight route, chances are you’ve got a DVD or other optical drive in your laptop that you rarely, if ever, actually stick a disk in it. This concept, dubbed disk+Mouse plans to put that space to good use holding a pointer that stores flat, but pops up in a conical shape when needed. Of course, by this time next year we’ll all probably be looking at physical media the same way we did floppies in the post iMac world and this will be nothing but a cutesy throwback with no place to go — just like those cassette-shaped USB drives.

CD-shaped mouse is perfect for our physical media-free future originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Traditionally, females in Japan tend to live with their parents until they get married as taking the step to living on their own is not a simple and cheap step to take. Step in the ladies from Lacine, a female support company based in Japan, who recently introduced an exciting new concept aimed at easing the transition between ladies living with their parents and finding their own domicile. The new “Trial Stay” program aims at fostering a female-oriented atmosphere and living space for their residents, through their new concept of a “salon” in the apartment complete with cooking classes, beauty school, and other female-directed workshops all combined under one roof, differentiating their home from service apartments.

For about US $200 to US $300, the company provides a fashionable apartment room for a short stay of 2 to 4 weeks, enough time for these ladies to decide whether or not living by themselves floats their boat, or if they should wait until their Prince Charming asks them to live with him in his castle. These women can live in a home decorated with beautiful ornaments and equipped with the latest eco-friendly “green” technology, such as an IH Cooking Heater. The room uses LED lighting and comes with an arrangement of furniture, which is cost effective in the sense that it saves them from buying their own.

Trial Stay’s main feature is its Salon, which acts as a living room where residents can get together and throw parties, as well as a place for daily events such as cooking lessons taught by professional chefs and beauty courses led by renown make-up artists. The Salon is designed by Panahome (Panasonic’s Home Improvement Department) and integrates the newest technology developed by Panasonic. Their Eco Money System allows them to implement their recently introduced concept, “Mieruka” (a play on with the words ‘develop’ and ’see’, which imply that users can see how much electricity/energy they are using as well as how much solar powered energy is being created by the solar panels attached to the apartment). Finally, the home even generously provides an electric bicycle for each of its residents, making the trip to the grocery store and back much less tiring and more convenient.

This Trial Stay proves to be a new and interesting concept that many women may find appealing. Not only do they get to live far away from their parents, they are able to learn how to become, what some Japanese men may say, a real woman, by learning how to cook and master the art of makeup.

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