Hasta La Gadget!

Micron Technology is adding Mike Rayfield as the brains to its newly-doubled manufacturing brawn. NVIDIA’s departing mobile chief was instrumental in producing Tegra 3, the hardware behind flagship devices like HTC’s One X and Google’s Nexus 7. He’s been given the slightly misleading job title as VP of the company’s Wireless Solutions Group, which, despite the name, produces DRAM, NAND and NOR Flash memory for the global smartphone market — and given his track record, it’s likely that we’ll be seeing much more of Micron’s memory in the years to come

Continue reading Former NVIDIA mobile chief Mike Rayfield lands at Micron Technology

Filed under: Cellphones

Former NVIDIA mobile chief Mike Rayfield lands at Micron Technology originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone who’s been holding on to Yahoo shares through thick and thin is about to reap the rewards of that patience. As the company promised, it’s starting to sell back half its stake in Alibaba, closing the first stage of the deal with the equivalent of $7.6 billion in pure revenue. The struggling search and content firm ‘only’ pockets a net $4.3 billion after taxes and other overhead costs, but it won’t even see that much in its bank account: it’s purposefully sending $3.65 billion of that money to shareholders, both to inspire new confidence and (unofficially) to head off activist investors like Dan Loeb that might otherwise want a coup d’état. If share owners plan on using the second stage of the sale to fund a vacation to Maui, though, they’ll need to wait. Yahoo’s deal prevents it from selling half of its remaining 23 percent stake unless Alibaba files for an initial public offering, and there’s no guarantee that investors will see another dime of the proceeds.

Continue reading Yahoo starts selling half of its Alibaba stake as promised, sends $3.65 billion to giddy shareholders

Filed under: Internet

Yahoo starts selling half of its Alibaba stake as promised, sends $3.65 billion to giddy shareholders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ultrasound is likely most often associated with sonograms, but some MIT engineers are poised to change that. By using two separate beams of inaudible sound waves (one at low-frequency, the other high) the team were able to increase the permeability of skin, in a bid to improve the efficiency of transdermal drug delivery. The technique works thanks to the waves exciting bubbles in a fluid (such as water), forcing them to swell and move chaotically. Once the bubbles reach a certain size they implode, sucking the surrounding fluid into the void. This process creates micro-jets of liquid, which cause miniscule tears in the skin, allowing it to (painlessly) absorb chemicals more effectively. In practice, a pre-treated area of skin is then covered with a patch containing the correct dose of drugs — but don’t worry, the skin is said to grow back just a few hours later.

Up until now, research into ultrasonic administration of drugs has concentrated on low-frequency waves, because the higher end of the spectrum doesn’t have enough energy to pop the bubbles. Higher frequencies do, however, help create more of them and also limits their lateral movement. By using both high- and low-frequencies, the MIT engineers found this produced better over all results, by not only increasing the skin’s uptake of the medicine, but also increasing the number of drugs that can be delivered this way. With pretty much anything that is usually delivered in capsule form being on the cards, this could make the administration of many popular drugs much more convenient and / or effective. Also excellent news for those who really don’t like needles.

Continue reading MIT engineers use ultrasound for improved topical drug administration (video)

Filed under: Science, Alt

MIT engineers use ultrasound for improved topical drug administration (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We weren’t expecting to see the Wii U take the top slot in this week’s podcast, but we also weren’t expecting the Cardinals to take out the Patriots. We’ll get to the bottom of Nintendo’s TVii all the same, as well as the latest news from Google Fiber, Ceton and a slew of freshly updated apps. Finally, we’ll dive into the first wave of new TV arrivals for the fall, and a few high profile Blu-ray releases for this week.

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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: Trent Wolbe

14:50 – Nintendo unveils ‘Nintendo TVii’ for Wii U
18:00 – Here’s the company behind Nintendo TVii
20:00 – Nintendo TVii supported by ‘all’ major US and Canadian cable companies, dish services
21:44 – Google Fiber announces 180 qualified fiberhoods, sets approximate rollout schedule
23:30 – Google Fiber announces qualified areas tomorrow, snags ABC channels including ESPN, Disney
27:26 – Ceton Echo WMC extender beta units set to ship in October, on target for November release
32:31 – Hulu’s PlayStation 3 app upgraded, is the first for the living room to deliver the ‘new experience’
33:45 – Hulu Plus, HBO Go and Max Go apps for iOS updated with support for closed captions
34:04 – Cox TV Connect for iPad gets remote DVR scheduling, access to the guide at home or away
35:48 – Shazam now rides shotgun with any TV show in the US, gets cozier with Facebook
39:38 – Steam Big Picture beta hands-on
42:54 – Sony reveals HMZ-T2 head-mounted display pricing, launch date and features in Japan
44:32 – Sharp further cuts bonuses and salaries to stay above water, save $180 million
45:51 – Must See HDTV (September 17th – 23rd)

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Filed under: Podcasts, HD

Engadget HD Podcast 316 – 09.18.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Those excited about what handsets RIM will belatedly produce at the start of next year should check out these two pictures of an L-Series handset taking it easy on someone’s desk. There isn’t much to glean from the pair, aside from confirmation that the battery door is the entire backside of the device in the image that you’ll find after the break. Oh, and don’t try searching those handwritten sheets for exciting clues — we’ve tried, unsuccessfully.

Continue reading RIM’s L-Series BlackBerry 10 handset gets another chance to pout for the cameras

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

RIM’s L-Series BlackBerry 10 handset gets another chance to pout for the cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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