Aug 21
The Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) standard
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Aug 20
Oh, MHL 2.0, we hardly knew ye. The MHL Consortium, that Nokia / Samsung / Sony / Toshiba teamup behind the titular standard, has announced version 3.0, a specification that will be available for download early next month. At the top of the features list here is the ability to transfer at double the bandwidth of its predecessors, a bump that includes support for 4K resolution all the way up to 2160p30. Specification 3.0 offers power charging up to 10W, 7.1 surround sound, multiple simultaneous display support and is backwards compatible with older version. A more detailed rundown of what’s coming can be found in a press release after the break.
Filed under: Mobile, Samsung, Sony, Nokia
Source: MHL Tech
Feb 12
The web is defined by the free, open exchange of information, right? Not necessarily. The W3C has decided that it’s “in scope” for its HTML Working Group to explore a specification for the Encrypted Media Extensions framework, which would allow companies to plug in their own copy protection for web content. In other words, the effort would add support for DRM extensions to the web itself, rather than leave it to content plugins like Flash. The W3C’s Philippe Le Hegaret is careful to note that this isn’t an explicit endorsement of EME as it’s suggested, or even the call for consensus on the proposal — there are already concerns that the spec would lead to an abundance of DRM plugins that wouldn’t work in certain browsers or operating systems. However, there’s a chance it may become reality when EME’s backers include content hosts or producers like the BBC, Google, Microsoft and Netflix.
Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Google
Source: W3C
Jan 27
ITU approves the H.265 video format, takes us closer to high-quality mobile video
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Any smartphone owner who’s ever watched a streaming HD video buffer… and buffer… and buffer on even LTE connections will appreciate the ITU’s speediness today. Just months after MPEG proposed the extra-miserly H.265 video codec, the ITU has approved it as an official standard. As it’s greenlit so far, the format (also known as High Efficiency Video Coding) includes 8-bit, 10-bit and photo-oriented profiles that should cover most 2D capture and playback. Pros are promised 12-bit and chroma profiles in the future, while there’s work on 3D for all of us. We’ll have to wait for both software support and hardware acceleration to reap the rewards, but there should be many: the halved bandwidth requirements have obvious benefits for cellular devices as well as 4K media delivery for that rash of giant TVs about to hit the market. Let’s hope that camera and mobile device makers are just as impatient as we are.
Filed under: Cameras, Software, HD
Via: TechCrunch
Source: ITU
Oct 29
Alliance for Wireless Power approves its specification, edges closer to truly cable-free charging
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Design by committee might not be the death knell for technology after all. Over four months after the Alliance for Wireless Power was founded in earnest, the coalition has already greenlit a specification for its partners to work from. The guideline lets device makers start building devices that charge through a magnetic resonance technology more forgiving of distance and material than Qi while simplifying the process through short-range wireless formats like Bluetooth 4.0. While the A4WP group hasn’t made all the details public, it’s holding meetings this week to speed up the commercialization process — it’s here that we’ll learn whether the corporate bureaucracy is just as quick at getting wireless charging hardware into our hands as it is handshaking on standards.
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Tablets
Alliance for Wireless Power approves its specification, edges closer to truly cable-free charging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 22
HTML 5 has been a buzz word around the interwebs for so long you’d be forgiven if you thought it was a well-established standard looking for a successor. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which helps establish the primary standards used online, didn’t actually intend to complete HTML 5 until 2022. Thankfully, the group has reconsidered that seemingly absurd timeline and now plans to have this whole mess wrapped up by the end of 2014. The revised plan calls for an HTML 5 Candidate Recommendation (sort of like a feature-frozen beta) to be submitted by the end of 2012, before being finalized in 2014. All existing bits of the standard that are unstable or that suffer interoperability problems will be pulled from that candidate and pushed to a draft version of HTML 5.1. While HTML 5 is being completed, its evolutionary successor will begin the process of marching towards standardization, with a target completion date of 2016. For a more detailed exploration of the future of HTML hit up the source link.
Filed under: Internet
W3C says HTML 5 will be finalized in 2014, HTML 5.1 to follow in 2016 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sep 12
While Apple was busy announcing the iPhone 5, it left out mention of whether the device would use the recently approved (and Apple-designed) nano-SIM standard. Sure enough, the leaks were right once more — Apple is relying on that even tinier subscriber module for GSM, HSPA and LTE networks. The company also makes clear that there’s no going back, so you’ll have to chuck your earlier micro-SIM card if you’ve got one. Such is the price of progress.
[Thanks to Johannes Knapp for the nano-SIM]
Brad Molen contributed to this report.
Check out all the coverage at our iPhone 2012 event hub!
Gallery: The nano-SIM is here
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
iPhone 5 confirmed to use nano-SIM, current SIMs not compatible originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 05
If you’ve been taking your trusty ethernet cable for granted since 1985, then we don’t blame you — that’s when the IEEE 802.3 standard was first published and it hasn’t had a full revision since 2008. Behind the scenes, however, the IEEE Ethernet Working Group has continued to add extras like 100Gbps compatibility (1Tbps will have to wait), improved energy efficiency and greater suitablity for in-car networking. As of today, all of those amendments have been incorporated into 802.3-2012, which makes this a good time to pay homage and remember just how often thin air lets you down.
[Tattoo credit: Nick Thompson, Sinoth.net]
Continue reading Ethernet gets new IEEE standard, still requires your thumbnail
Filed under: Networking
Ethernet gets new IEEE standard, still requires your thumbnail originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 04
Forget Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 is where it’s at… if you’re a corporate IT manager, that is. Microsoft has just posted the finished version of its suit-and-tie OS for immediate sale in download form. Not surprisingly given Microsoft’s big cloud push, the emphasis with the upgrade is on improving how well the software scales for internet hosting — the company wants one common backbone that can handle as little as a small e-mail server to large-scale Azure deployments and virtualization. Server 2012 is also defined by what you won’t find: while the Metro-style interface from the platform’s Windows 8 cousin shows its face in the Essentials version, it’s noticeably stripped down and goes away in the more advanced tiers. The real shakeup for some might just be the new price points, which drop the cost by a large amount for offices that don’t need more than a slice of what the all-out Datacenter edition has to offer. We’ll admit that most of our attention as end users will be focused on what happens several weeks from now, but if you’re one of those rare server operators that can’t wait to start testing a new OS release almost immediately, you’ve got a head start on most of us.
Filed under: Desktops, Internet, Software
Microsoft delivers Windows Server 2012, puts the enterprise on cloud 8 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Aug 27
Bluetooth SIG releases certifications for fitness devices aimed at runners and cyclists
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Fitness gadgets are great, but you never quite know what you’re going to get when it comes to calorie counts, or a reading of how many miles you’ve run. That could change, though, thanks to a set of standards the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) is adopting with regard to fitness devices. These two certifications, which apply to running and cycling gadgets, respectively, affect the way data (e.g., cadence, speed, distance) is transmitted to paired devices like smartphones, sports watches and cycling computers. As far as SIG is concerned, too, more standardization means OEMs will have an easier time bringing new products to market — not that there’s any current shortage of options to choose from.
Filed under: Wearables, Wireless
Bluetooth SIG releases certifications for fitness devices aimed at runners and cyclists originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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