Hasta La Gadget!

The hyper-ambitious folks at DARPA are totally over the current state of military data collection, and they’re pretty sure they know how to fix it: teach sensors how to think. Well, they’ve got an idea how to fix it, but they’ve put out a call for mathematician to do the dirty work. The Mathematics of Sensing, Exploitation, and Execution (MSEE) program seeks a unified mathematical language that cane teach sensors not only to collect data, but to interpret, and act on it too. The aim is to eliminate the “data deluge” that comes from ever-increasing streams of information, like cellphone intercepts and video drone feeds, allowing analysts to focus on the important stuff. Currently the onus falls on humans to interpret the overwhelming amount of information collected by military sensors, but DARPA is confident that the right algorithm could have machines interpreting the world as early as 2014. Which gives you right around three years to fulfill every fantasy you’ve ever had.

DARPA’s MSEE to develop new mathematical language, race of sentient machines originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 06:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alternative means of propulsion are the norm at the North American International Auto Show this year in Detroit, and VW had a few options on display. First up is the Touareg Hybrid, the company’s first, with a 3.0 liter supercharged V6 paired to an electric motor, offering a combined 380hp, 0 – 60 times of 6.2 seconds (not bad for a 5,000lb SUV), and up to 27mpg — if you don’t dip too deep in the throttle. Keep things light, and under 30mph, and you can drive it as a purely EV car so long as there’s charge. It’s available now.

Also on display is the Golf Blue-e-motion that our friends at Autoblog previously got to spend a little time with in Germany. This is currently built on the Golf Mk VI platform but, by the time it is released in 2013, will be applied to the upcoming Mk VII platform. It’s said to offer a realistic 80 miles of range and, unlike the Focus Electric, hasn’t made too many sacrifices in the cargo compartment.

VW Golf Blue-e-motion and Hybrid Touareg strike a pose in Detroit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rovi sounds friendly enough, but the company used to be called Macrovision — and the infamous DRM provider just sued Amazon’s IMDb.com last week for infringement of five TV guide patents. The patents came along with Rovi’s acquisition of Gemstar, and they cover everything from interactive program guides to purchasing products on-demand to scheduling recordings from a computer — a huge range that seems to hit everything from QVC to the Xfinity TV iPad app. That probably explains why Rovi says it has deals with everyone from Apple to Yahoo — between its TV listings products, recent purchase of a sizable video library, and the current litigation with IMDb, it appears that the company is serious about leaving its DRM-centric roots behind and moving into internet content distribution.

Rovi sues Amazon and IMDb for infringing TV guide patents originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We didn’t manage to check out Vivitek’s booth and its bevy of low power QR-LPD-screened devices at this year’s CES, but it doesn’t look like we missed much. The e-book fanatics over at The Digital Reader dropped by, and found Bridgestone’s QR-LPD screen technology extremely disappointing. Apparently the screens are just as dim and washed out as they were when we first glimpsed them, over two years ago. In addition, the screen refresh time is painfully slow. Unless these screens turn out to be vastly better in production and incredibly cheap, we think Mirasol and Pixel Qi don’t have anything to worry about in the next-gen screen space. There’s a video of QR-LPD after the break if you’re still interested.

Continue reading Bridgestone shows off QR-LPD display, the future looks dim

Bridgestone shows off QR-LPD display, the future looks dim originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We do love to hear from loquacious execs, and HP’s Todd Bradley has been the very definition of one in an interview conducted with CNBC during CES. In a discussion revolving around webOS, Bradley was asked how HP intends to differentiate itself from the iPad and improve upon it, to which he quipped, “you and I will talk about that on the 9th.” If that’s not a confirmation that we’ll finally have our unicorn of a webOS tablet next month, we don’t know what is. Even more encouraging is the implication further on in the interview that HP could have debuted this slate at CES, but opted to do an unveiling at a separate event so as to properly highlight just how awesome it is. But wait, there’s yet more good news for webOS fans: Bradley’s crew sees its upcoming tablet as just “one piece” of the connected experience that is the company’s goal and we’re promised to be enlightened about a broad range of webOS devices at the February 9th event in San Francisco, though the lack of any Palm namedrops seems to suggest they might not bear the name of their maker. Even if they’re called iPaqs, we just want to see them already!

Continue reading HP’s Todd Bradley all but confirms webOS tablet for February 9th event, promises even more devices

HP’s Todd Bradley all but confirms webOS tablet for February 9th event, promises even more devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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