You might think that sounds like a dumb question: why does it matter how many molecules there are, they just need to be cold enough, right? Wrong: you need enough to make the complex crystal structure that you see so clearly in snow flakes—and now scientists have worked out exactly how many that is. More »
Mid-September is a busy time of year in the world of design as the Solar Decathlon Europe takes place in Madrid and the London Design Festival kicks off — and Inhabitat has correspondents on the ground at both events bringing us a steady stream of photos and updates. At the Solar Decathlon, Team Portugal designed an innovative house that can actually rotate to follow the sun in order to increase energy production and adjust interior daylighting. Team Valencia developed a modular home that can grow or contract depending on the family’s needs. And the team from Tongji University produced an eye-catching house that embraces both Western and Daoist principles. In the competition, Rome’s super-efficient MED in Italy house jumped out to an early lead — but it’s still too soon to call the winner so stay tuned.
Inhabitat’s Week in Green: rotating house, desktop 3D printer and a Star Trek-style warp drive originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Most of the world’s ice cubes are cloudy, soft, and weak. These hazy rocks are less dense, and they melt faster, leaving your drink watered down and terrible. Plus, opaque ice is just ugly. More »
We’re in Seoul for the launch of LG’s latest flagship smartphone, the Optimus G, and we finally managed to spend a few minutes with a demo unit. This is a powerhouse — the first handset built around Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro. It features LTE, a 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, a 13-megapixel autofocus camera, a sealed 2100mAh battery, and NFC.
We like the simple and elegant design, which is reminiscent of LG’s Chocolate and Prada models — it’s thin (8.45mm / 0.33 inches) and reasonably light for its size (145g / 5.11oz). The front sports a glass surface with three capacitive buttons and the back showcases the company’s Crystal Reflection process — an attractive patterned glass-like finish that’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Materials and build quality are excellent (better than the Galaxy S III) and the Optimus G feels pleasant in hand.
You’ll find a volume rocker and micro-SIM slot on the left edge and the power / lock key on the right. There’s a notification light next to the 1.3MP front-facing camera. A standard headphone jack sits on the top side, with the micro-USB / MHL connector on the bottom. The speaker and main camera are in the back, pretty much where you’d expect them. While the display is definitely high quality, it’s not mind blowing (the One X screen still looks better) — we expected better viewing angles from LG’s True HD IPS PLUS and Zerogap Touch technologies.
Sadly, we didn’t spend much time using the software, but the Optimus G runs Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with a skin similar to what we saw on the Optimus 4X HD and performance is definitely impressive. We’ll get more seat time with LG’s flagship over the next few days, so stay tuned for more impressions. In the meantime, enjoy our gallery below and our hands-on video after the break.
Gallery: LG Optimus G hands-on
Update: We’ve added pictures of the white model and screenshots to the gallery.
Continue reading LG Optimus G: hands-on with Korea’s latest powerhouse (video) (updated)
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
LG Optimus G: hands-on with Korea’s latest powerhouse (video) (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s official! Today in Seoul LG is announcing its latest flagship smartphone, the Optimus G. The 8.45mm (0.33-inch) thin handset — which has been rumored for weeks — packs Qualcomm’s Fusion 3 chipset which pairs a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (APQ8064) with a 2G / 3G / LTE radio (MDM9615). It features 2GB of DDR RAM and a 4.7-inch 1280×768 (320ppi) True HD IPS PLUS display with Zerogap Touch (in-cell touch) technology. A sealed 2100mAh Li-polymer battery rated for 800 charge cycles powers this Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) device. The rear camera sports a 13-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor with 1.1µm pixels, an f/2.4 autofocus lens and a single LED flash — along with a more pedestrian 1.3MP shooter in front. There’s 32GB of built-in flash storage, but no microSD card slot. Other specs include WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, NFC and MHL.
Aesthetically, the Optimus G marries LG’s Chocolate and Prada design-languages into a sleek 145g (5.11oz) unibody smartphone. The front is all glass with three capacitive buttons while the back indroduces the company’s Crystal Reflection process which gives the handset “the ability to display different patterns depending on the viewing angle and lighting“. LG’s placing a lot of emphasis on how the user experience benefits from the Optimus G’s quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320 GPU — something it calls “cross-tasking”. This includes capabilties like QSlide Function, Live Zooming, Dual Screen Dual Play, QuickMemo, Screen Zooming, Application Link and Icon Personalizer, plus camera funtionality such as Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter, Smart Shutter and Low Light Shot Noise Reduction — all of which are detailed for your reading pleasure in the PR after the break.
Gallery: LG Optimus G PR
Stay tuned for hands-on pictures, video and first impressions later today…
Update: Unsubsidized pricing will be 999,900 KRW ($895 USD) when the Optimus G ships in Korea next week. That’s pretty steep, even for an unlocked device.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
LG launches Optimus G flagship smartphone: quad-core S4 Pro, LTE, 2GB RAM, ICS, 13MP camera (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This tiny sensor sticker can save your life – provided you’re also wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. Bikes and motorcycles make it easier to commute and squeeze through traffic during rush hour. However, the chances of you getting hurt when you figure in an accident are pretty high since there’s nothing standing in the way of you and whatever it is that’s about to hit you.
You might already be using some sort of In Case of Emergency (ICE) system now, but one that you really should look into if you bike is the ICEdot. It’s basically comprised of the tiny yellow sensor (that’s the dot on the helmet above) and an app that’s installed on your phone.
The sensor is programmed to trigger your phone to call for your ICE contact once it detects that you’ve been in an accident. It also gauges how severely you’ve been hit. To prevent false alarms, the app generates an emergency countdown which you can manually abort if you just dropped your helmet or took a small fall or something.
The ICEdot will be available next year for around $200(USD). That’s not a bad price, considering that it might just save your life if you crash out on the trail somewhere.
[via Gizmodo]
As we enjoy the last few weeks of absolutely everything being served on the rocks, take a moment to admire the cubes inside that sweaty glass. Long ago ice used to be a novelty, shipped across the country-or world-in massive chunks carved from frozen lakes and rivers. More »
It’s a little-known fact that Jedi Knights and Native Americans share something in common. Namely, they use every part of the animals they kill. What you didn’t know about The Empire Strikes Back was that after Luke hacked off the hungry Wampa’s arm, he kept it.
I’m sure you’re curious exactly what Luke did with a furry, severed Wampa arm. He used it to scrape the ice off the windows of his Snowspeeder between missions on Hoth. Now you can follow in Luke’s footsteps thanks to ThinkGeek with the really cool Star Wars Wampa Ice Scraper Mitt.
The mitt is really designed for scraping ice too with a fuzzy glove to keep your hand nice and toasty while you scrape. The glove section of the mitt is machine washable and it has a nice 3 x 4-inch ice scraper in the palm. The Wampa Arm Ice Scraper will be available in early October for $24.99(USD).
Kitchen accessories that do double-duty are the best way to maximize the space in your drawers and cabinets. But the only thing this lovely Polar Ice Bucket does—besides keeping your ice dry while it melts—is to remind you of the dwindling polar ice caps and rising sea levels thanks to global warming. More »
Most simple explanations of climate change suggest that rising sea levels are a result of melting ice in the polar regions. While that’s true to an extent, there’s a simple piece of physics behind the rising waters that you might not have been made aware of. This video helps explain why it’s thermal expansion that’s the real problem—now we just need to work out how to stop it. [YouTube] More »
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