Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8, we go hands-on

Kno promised to launch a double-screened Linux-based e-reader designed for students at D8, and the undercover startup didn’t disappoint — believe us when we say it came out in a big way. That’s big as in freaking big: the Kno reader features dual 14.1-inch capacitive IPS displays (1440 x 900 each), weighs 5.5 pounds, and offers six to eight hours of battery life, all in a package that’s so comically large we thought it was a joke when we first saw the press shots. Kno says it’ll offer both pen and touch support, and it’ll come with a stylus out of the box. Under the hood, it’s running a Tegra 2 chip with 16GB of storage, and the entire experience is essentially a WebKit instance. Yes, it’s sort of like the Courier, but larger — much, much larger.

We had a chance to go hands-on with the device as well as speak to some members of the team developing the Kno, and while it’s clear that there are major bumps in the UI and user experience, it seems like the company is aware of them. What we saw today was clearly unfinished, with a lot of laggy, stuttery behavior in the interface, a crash or two, and some very inaccurate finger tracking, but Kno says it’s hard at work on eradicating those issues. Even with the UI fixes, it’s a hard sell at “under $1000,” but Kno is putting together partnerships with publishers to make that a little easier to swallow, as they say ultimately it will be less expensive than buying regular old text books. It’s an audacious idea, for sure… and we’re still completely confused by one of the company’s press pics featuring a bunch of dudes running around in their underwear, but we digress. Check out some shots from the demo, PR pics, and our hands-on with the device below.

Gallery: Kno hands-on

Continue reading Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8, we go hands-on

Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hands-on with the Kno tablet

CNET’s Ina Fried gets up close and personal with the dual-screen device just after it debuted at the D: All Things Digital conference Wednesday. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20006617-56.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Beyond Binary/a/p

Motorola Droid Shadow / Xtreme pictured again, powered by Ninjablur?

Because we can’t seem to get enough Motorola Droid Shadow / Xtreme teasers in our lives, here’s a few more with which to tide you over. First on the docket is a pair of pics from Droid Life, with the screen-saving film intact (and a still-visible Verizon logo underneath) and a cleaner side shot of its bulbous derriere. If that wasn’t enough, the clue-dropper wnrussell of HowardForums — who gave us the vast majority of the previous leaks — is back showing off a 1500mAh battery and claiming a name for that monochrome Motoblur-esque skin we saw earlier. In his words, “Ninja Blur is Blur running without the user knowing. For those who don’t like Blur.” Translation: it’s an Android skin that does very little but make aesthetic differentiators and probably slows down the processing speed a bit. Any chance the ninja can go into hiding in lieu of a vanilla robot experience?

Motorola Droid Shadow / Xtreme pictured again, powered by Ninjablur? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aiptek 3D camcorder: Three guesses what it does

The 3D is a budget, USB mini-camcorder–like the Flip Mino and its ilk–but with an extra dimension. The Aiptek sees double with two lenses and two 5-megapixel CMOS sensors, both recording high-definition 720p footage.

Lego printer introduces itself to the world

Check out this video of a home-brew printer.

Verizon looking to partner up for rural LTE deployments

If you’re wondering why T-Mobile doesn’t have 3G in the middle of the Mojave, the answer’s pretty simple: it’s hard for any of the Big Four to justify spending millions of dollars on infrastructure in sparsely-populated areas. Rather than ignore it and leave the spectrum blank, though, Verizon’s asking other companies to step in and share the responsibilities — sort of — by letting partners do most of the hard work (build towers and operate backhaul) while Big Red chips in its 700MHz spectrum holdings and “core LTE equipment.” Presumably, Verizon will help itself to a share of the proceeds, which from their perspective, makes it look like a win-win scenario: they’re helping to bring 4G technology to underserved areas, doing less work and spending less capital than they’d have to otherwise, and profiting off the spirit of an initiative that FCC chief Julius Genachowski is pushing very, very hard at the moment. And hey, we bet you’ll be getting some insane throughput when you’re rocking the LTE modem in the middle of nowhere.

Verizon looking to partner up for rural LTE deployments originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Xonar Xense Audio Bundle reviewed, deemed very good (and very pricey)

ASUS has made quite a few admirers with its Xonar high-end sound card line over the years, and it looks like the new Xonar Xense Audio Bundle is another feather in its cap. Essentially a Xonar Xense card with a pair of Sennheiser PC 350 headphones thrown in for good measure, this bad boy features two 1/4-inch jacks (one for headphones, one for a mic), coax S/PDIF output, and 3.1 surround sound. TweakTown is in love with the thing, calling it “a best of both worlds realization that has been the culmination of many months and over a thousand different combinations of equipment” with “real world performance rivaling a thousand dollar hi-fi system.” But not so fast! Bit-tech, was a little more reserved, saying that even if the specs and sound quality are “enough to satisfy the keenest hi-fi enthusiast,” the headphones aren’t particularly impressive — and certainly not enough to justify spending £275 (that’s like $400!) while the Essence STX can be found for half that. But that’s not the whole story, not by a long-shot: check out the source links for all the essential details.

ASUS Xonar Xense Audio Bundle reviewed, deemed very good (and very pricey) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 404 593: Where we’re living the hypnagogic dream with The Sleep Doctor (podcast)

The Sleep Doctor, Dr. Michael Breus, is back and we’re ready to bombard him with our pressing questions about sleep apnea, lucid dreaming, snoring, sleep positions, sleep talking, morning breath, sleep aids, …


Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

Reports: Google’s Chrome OS coming ‘late fall’

Chrome OS device had been expected to hit the streets before the holiday season, and a Google executive confirmed that intention this week at Computex. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20006601-265.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Relevant Results/a/p

White iPhone 4 casing shows up in yet more photos

Steve Jobs didn’t seem too upset over the story of the lost / stolen iPhone 4 last night at D8, so we’re sure he won’t mind that yet more parts for his next-gen phone have leaked out — this time PowerBookMedic.com has scored the white version of the casing. As usual, the Engadget staff is now in a fierce and somewhat disturbingly violent debate over the relative style merits of black and white iPhones, so don’t look for us to get much done for the rest of the day. Many more pics at the source link.

White iPhone 4 casing shows up in yet more photos originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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