NAUTIZ X1 ultra rugged smartphone begins to ship

nautiz-x1Have you ever heard of the Handheld Group before? Neither have I, but we do know that they are a fast-growing manufacturer of rugged mobile computers, PDAs and smartphones, and they have begun to ship the Nautiz X1 to those who want a functional device, and yet is able to live up to the different kinds of knocks and drops that are associated with the careless and butterfingers. In fact, the Nautiz X1 has been described to be the “toughest enterprise smartphone in the world”, which is certainly a tall order to live up to, bearing traits of being waterproof, dustproof, shock-resistant and the ability to handle extreme temperatures, without sacrificing on looks since it is also slim, lightweight and smartly designed to handle both work and play.

The first batches of the Nautiz X1 is said to hav completely sold out already, where it will feature an IP67 ingress protection rating, which translates to it being fully dust- as well as waterproof. Not only that, it is capable of withstanding immersion in water, and will also be able to live up to the stringent MIL-STD-810G military test standards which allows it to endure humidity, vibration, shock and extreme high and low temperatures.

Product Manager Johan Hed of Handheld Group, said, “As a company specializing in rugged computers, we know our customers expect all our products to be built rugged from the inside out. The Nautiz X1 is no exception – it comes with the reliability and sturdiness of an ultra-rugged computer. People are increasingly using their smartphones all the time, everywhere, and they’re expecting mobility and connectivity anytime, anywhere, and in all environments and weather conditions. The Nautiz X1 ultra-rugged smartphone is a natural choice, as it’s built to survive these challenges.”

It will tip the scales at an extremely lightweight 6.3 ounces, sporting a 4″ special sunlight-readable capacitive touchscreen and ultra-durable Gorilla Glass. It will be powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor, accompanid by 1GB RAM, has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, a 5-megapixel camera at the back alongside Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 as the mobile operating system, but seriously, how many people or businesses use the latter these days?

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[ NAUTIZ X1 ultra rugged smartphone begins to ship copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Comcast’s X1 availability widens, mass-deployment still planned by year’s end

DNP COmcast X1 DVR adds smartphone control, available now in tktktk

Comcast’s advanced cable-box footprint keeps getting bigger. While currently you can only get the X1 set-top box in 18 of its service areas, that’s growing, as it’s come to several new markets recently. A company spokesperson recently told us that the cable giant is still on track to have the new unit as an option for all of its customers by year’s end. As of now, new and current Triple Play subscribers in Nashville and Knoxville, TN; Jacksonville, Sarasota and Naples, FL; Baltimore and Frederick, MD and Brunswick, GA can snag the hardware as a free upgrade with select programming packages. Or, if you’re patient, you could wait for the X2.

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Source: Comcast X1

How would you change Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon?

DNP  Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review dark and angular meets thin and light

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon is such a beautiful piece of hardware that we’re having trouble concentrating. With that carbon fiber chassis, the Ultrabook is thin, light and classily understated. Even packing Ivy Bridge internals, it still managed to crank out five hours of battery life and, aside from its slightly weak display, stands head and shoulders above other skinny carbon laptops we could mention. But what about you high-rollers who splashed out upwards of $1,400 on one of these things? Here’s the time for you to share your experiences and tell us what you would change.

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Comcast’s X1 remote app gains voice commands on iOS, Android update in the works

Comcast's X1 remote app gains voice commands on iOS, Android update in the works

A little added interactiveness with living room essentials goes a long way. With that in mind, Comcast today announced it’s boosting its iOS X1 remote control with newly minted voice commands, something the company’s been working on since earlier this year. Xfinity TV subscribers using the X1 platform will now be able to search for content by (quietly) shouting different vocal orders at the application, including, but not limited to, things like “Record,” “Watch Gossip Girl or “Find the Yankees game.” While the new feature is only available on iOS at the moment, Comcast says its devs and engineers are “also working on voice control features for Android phones and for traditional remote controls.” The X1 app update doesn’t appear to be live just yet, but be sure to keep an eye on the App Store as it should be arriving pretty soon.

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Source: App Store

Comcast grows in Q4, buys the rest of NBCUniversal and rolls out more new DVRs

It’s been a busy day for Comcast, so we’ll catch you up on the key points. First, it announced today that it’s buying the 49 percent of NBCUniversal that it didn’t already own from General Electric in a deal worth about $16.7 billion, plus 30 Rockefeller Plaza and CNBC’s New Jersey headquarters for an additional $1.4 billion. That’s an acceleration of the original schedule, which gave Comcast the option to expand its ownership starting in 2014. In other news, Comcast reported its Q4 earnings, noting that while it still lost around 7,000 cable TV customers in Q4, the total number of video, internet and phone subscribers rose by 503,000 to a total of 51.3 million, up 3 percent from last year.

In other news, Comcast announced expansions in its rollout of the new X1 DVR platform. Already live in areas of Georgia, New Jersey, Boston, Tennessee, San Francisco and Philadelphia, it’s recently launched in Colorado Springs, CO with more promised in the coming months. It also locked down a deal with Fox that covers local broadcasts, cable TV networks and brings a number of the network’s shows to Xfinity streaming apps and services on other platforms. That deal also reveals that Fox will soon add TV Everywhere authenticated streaming to its Fox Now apps, which Comcast customers will be able to access. There’s an earnings call tomorrow where we may find out more details, for now you can look after the break and at the links below for the full press releases.

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Source: Comcast Voices, Comcast, Q4 Results

Intel demos ‘headless’ 6-tuner cable gateway for Comcast

Intel demos 'headless' 6tuner cable gateway for Comcast

Pre-CES rumors suggested Intel would announce a “virtual cable” service (before being stamped out) but the partnership with Comcast it actually revealed turned out to be far more conventional. Very similar to the tru2way multiroom box Intel demonstrated back at IDF in 2009, the Multi-Screen Video Gateway by Arris capitalizes on DLNA standards — touted by the alliance earlier today — to bring video to virtually any device in your home. It’s “headless”, because it’s not built to connect directly to any TV, just shoved somewhere out of sight while you tune in on your various screens. Of course, these demos have been here before and the DTCP-IP technology behind it isn’t particularly new either, so why could 2013 finally be the year we see these features roll out from major providers?

Intel demos 'headless' 6tuner cable gateway for Comcast

As cited in the earlier press release, DirecTV has released Genie DVRs loaded with RVU that pushes video directly to TVs and even the PS3 in the past year, providing one example of the tech in action. The updated FCC IP interface requirements and continued work on the DLNA Premium Content guidelines are also forcing progress forward, albeit slowly. Finally, there’s some hope that the CE and cable industry can actually work together, as seen in Comcast’s RDK program that’s pushing the development of this box and others (like that Humax box we spotted floating through the FCC) with similar capabilities. The box was running Comcast’s new X1 cloud-based guide which has seen a limited rollout so far, but because of how it works is more easily accessed and updated on connected devices. Of course even with all that, we’ve been down this road before (again and again and again and again) so despite a slick demo we’ll withhold excitement until hardware is actually released.

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Humax’s take on an IP-connected TV box for Comcast passes through the FCC

Humax's take on an IPconnected TV box for Comcast passes through the FCC

Comcast isn’t opening up its set-top boxes (UI and all) in the way we’d like, but it has established a reference spec (RDK) for potential hardware partners to build their own versions of its next generation setup. As reported by Light Reading, Cisco, Humax, Pace, Technicolor and others are working on hardware for a new multiroom setup based on a central gateway (or maybe a Cablevision-style network DVR) that streams video to IP-connected extenders called the XI3. Now Humax’s Xfinity-branded XI3-H has been revealed in an FCC filing spotted by Wireless Goodness. It sports a coax in/out connection for MoCA and TV, HDMI in and out, Ethernet and a USB port for a WiFi adapter. There’s also an SD card slot interestingly, which could potentially be used as local DVR storage for quick pause and rewind without pulling from the main server.

Continue reading Humax’s take on an IP-connected TV box for Comcast passes through the FCC

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Source: Wireless Goodness, FCC

BBK’s Vivo X1 is a phone for audiophiles, packs high-end DAC and Beyerdynamic earphones

Vivo X1 smartphone announced

We’ve never paid much attention to BBK’s phones in the past, but today, this Chinese company — who’s actually the creator of the Oppo brand for the Western market — announced a rather interesting Android 4.1 device. The idea of this Vivo X1 is that BBK wants to take audio very seriously on its new flagship phone, which is why it’s been given a Cirrus Logic CS4398 digital-analog converter plus a CS8422 sample-rate converter — a combo that’s seemingly popular amongst Hi-Fi connoisseurs and manufacturers. And to match that audio performance, BBK’s also throwing in a pair of Beyerdynamic MMX 71 iE earphones (20Hz-22kHz, 12Ω, 104dB) as part of the ¥2,498 ($400) package; though you can also choose the AKG K420 or the Sennheiser CX215 instead when buying from BBK’s official online store.

The rest of the Vivo X1, however, is more bog-standard in comparison: MediaTek MT6577T processor (1.2GHz, dual core, Cortex-A9), 4.7-inch 960 x 540 IPS display, 1GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage, eight-megapixel main camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and WCDMA 2100 3G radio. The only real highlight here is perhaps the 2,000mAh battery, which is non-removable but still rather impressive considering it’s in a 6.55mm-thin body. Even the Oppo Finder has a 6.65mm thickness and yet lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, whereas BBK’s thinner phone has one. What’s missing here is microSD expansion, but there’s 15GB of Baidu cloud storage should users wish to take advantage of that.

The Vivo X1 may just be available for pre-order now, but the folks at BBK couldn’t help but tease the highlights of its next-generation device already: bezel-free design, 1080p display, big battery and 13-megapixel camera. We look forward to that.

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Via: Engadget China

Source: Vivo

X1 exoskeletal robot suit for astronauts

When you are in space, the lack of gravity means stuff would be floating around unless they are strapped down or tied somewhere, and it does give you the illusion that you’re far stronger than normal as you handle a floating safe which you normally would be unable to budge while you are on earth. Not only that, the lack of gravity would also mean astronauts’ bone density gets affected the longer they remain in space, requiring them to maintain a strict fitness regime so that they do not end up too frail when their space mission is over. The X1 exoskeletal robot suit might be utilized by NASA to make astronauts stronger while maintaining fitness levels even in space.

Originally designed to be a human assist device that enables folks with paraplegia to walk again, the X1 exoskeletal robot suit boasts of strategically designed motors that enable high torque applications including stair climbing, coming with multiple points of adjustment to accommodate a wide range of users. When used in space, it can amplify astronaut strength, or perhaps function as an exercise device for long duration missions. There will definitely be changes made to the X1 exoskeletal robot suit in due time to increase its functionality and flexibility, and let’s hope that the whole world ends up the better for it.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Astronauts and robots seal deal with a handshake, Robonaut by NASA is alive and kicking,

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