May 14

Spacecraft to Conduct Massive Experiment–With Lasers

Posted in: NASA, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili
NASA_LISA_Lasers.jpg
NASA and ESA are planning to launch three spacecraft into orbit around the sun some three million miles apart, and then have them shoot lasers at each other, Popular Science reports.
You may want to stop for a moment and just bask in the coolness of that idea. Back yet? The purpose of this project will be to prove one last part of Einstein’s theory of relativity: the existence of gravitational waves, or “huge ripples in time and space that flow outwards from the collision of huge celestial bodies like black holes,” as the report said.
To do this, NASA and ESA will deploy LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna; it consists of three spacecraft that will fire lasers at each other and measure the relative positions of floating cubes of gold and platinum alloy–with a precision of 40 millionths of a millionth of a meter.
The project is set for launch in 2020.
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May 14

Sharp Launches 3D Mobile Device Camera

Posted in: Sharp, Today's Chili
Sharp_3D_Mobile.jpg
Sharp Corporation has unveiled a 3D camera module for mobile devices that could capture high-definition 720p 3D video images.
To do this, a 3D camera requires peripheral circuitry that applies image processing between two images, taken with two cameras that capture images simultaneously for the right and left eyes. This is bit of a trick to pull off for something that can squeeze into a four ounce cell phone, but that appears to be what Sharp has accomplished here.
The company said it will begin shipping samples in July, and will begin mass production later in 2010.
Last month, Sharp Corporation announced it was also working on 3D-capable cell phone displays that won’t require special 3D glasses in order to view properly. (via FierceMobileContent)
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May 14

Why I Steal Movies… Even Ones I’m In [Piracy]

Posted in: ebooks, feature, MP3, Today's Chili, top

Like a billion other people, I download things illegally. I’m also an actor, writer and director whose income depends on revenue from DVDs, movies and books. This leads to many conflicts in my head, in my heart, and in bars. More »

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May 14

Data Usage on Cell Phones Now Trumps Voice Calls

Posted in: phone, Smart Devices, Smartphones, Today's Chili, Wireless

Apple_iPhone_GPS_2.jpg

This was bound to happen at some point.
Although almost 90 percent of U.S. households now have a cell phone, the amount of voice minutes consumed has stayed relatively flat. But for the first time, wireless industry association CTIA reports that the amount of data in text, e-mail messages, streaming video, music, and other apps on mobile devices in 2009 surpassed the amount of voice data in calls, according to the New York Times.
“Originally, talking was the only cellphone application,” said Dan Hesse, chief executive of Sprint Nextel, in the article. “But now it’s less than half of the traffic on mobile networks.” He added that within the next few years, it’s possible cell phone users will pay primarily for the data they use instead of by voice minutes.
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May 14

Acer holding global event at end of May, no Chrome OS devices planned to launch

Posted in: Chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, Today's Chili

Thinking that early June / Computex will see the launch of Acer’s Chrome OS devices? That’s what we heard yesterday, but after doing a little digging of our own, our advice is simply, don’t hold your breath. A source within Acer has told us that the company has no plans to hold a press conference at the Taipei show, and that a global launch event will be held in New York on May 25. The “significant news” Acer has to share this spring will be revealed then, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll entail Chrome OS devices either.

So, what do we make of all of this? If we had to bet, we’d say that Chrome isn’t quite ready for prime time yet, as others have been reporting. But Acer has been known to show early prototypes of devices behind glass at trade shows — we saw the Android Aspire One under lock and key at Computex last year. Who knows what will happen in the next few weeks with Google I/O, this Acer event and Computex, but we just have a feeling we’ll be waiting a bit longer for the company’s Chrome OS systems to hit the market. Though, that doesn’t mean it won’t launch them in the second half of the year like originally promised.

Acer holding global event at end of May, no Chrome OS devices planned to launch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Hate the office kettle? Get your own in a mug

Posted in: Today's Chili

The Kug is a kettle-mug that boils its own water. With its own heating element in the mug’s base, it’s designed to save you seconds in the morning, as well as help arthritis sufferers.

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May 14

AT&T to cover about 250M people with HSPA+ by year’s end

Posted in: att, breaking news, BreakingNews, hspa, Today's Chili

AT&T has changed its story on its 3.5G / 3.75G strategy prior to rolling out LTE seemingly countless times in the past couple years, but the good news is that the latest policy shift is a decidedly positive one: it intends to cover about 250 million Americans in speedy (well, hopefully speedy) HSPA+ by the end of 2010. The remarks came today from AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey at a Reuters event, going on to say that the company intends to “double” its theoretical 7.2Mbps maximum on HSPA; it seems almost certain that the move is in response to T-Mobile’s aggressive moves into 21Mbps territory recently — not to mention commercial WiMAX availability on Sprint and the impending launch of a handful of LTE markets on Verizon — but realistically HSPA+ on AT&T could easily run anywhere between 7.2 and 14.4Mbps depending on market, backhaul capacity, and countless other factors. Works out well for a presumed iPhone launch, doesn’t it?

AT&T to cover about 250M people with HSPA+ by year’s end originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Cherrypal Asia runs Android on the cheap, comes in 7- and 10.1-inch flavors

Posted in: Android, GoogleAndroid, hands-on, Today's Chili

What do you do if you’re CherryPal, and you’ve already released a $118 netbook named Africa? Uh, you replace it with a $99 netbook named the Asia, of course. Actually, CherryPal has slapped together its Asia in two versions, a 7-incher at $99 and a 10.1-incher with an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam for right around $150, both running Android 1.6 paired to a “good-enough” (their words, not ours) 533MHz ARM9 core sourced from VIA; both are available now.

We had a chance to check out both flavors of the Asia at gdgt live in Chicago this week, and the phrase “you get what you pay for” definitely applies with these suckers — they’re not well-built powerhouses in any sense of the word, and we were told on no uncertain terms that the devices are geared at developing markets where price point reigns supreme. Closed, both smartbooks have the same slick, glossy appearance, but open, they’re quite different; the 10.1-inch version has a simple, upscale, matte, MacBook-ish look to it while the 7-inch version just looks like a straight-up toy. Both were running pretty choppy — a symptom of the low-spec processor, we’re sure — but Cherrypal told us that updates to newer builds of Android are in the works and will be available either online or via flash drive, so we suppose there’s a chance that could help smooth things out a bit. Check out some shots below!

Gallery: Cherrypal Asia runs Android on the cheap, comes in 7- and 10-inch flavors

Continue reading Cherrypal Asia runs Android on the cheap, comes in 7- and 10.1-inch flavors

Cherrypal Asia runs Android on the cheap, comes in 7- and 10.1-inch flavors originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Hauppage WinTV gets WiFi streaming for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Posted in: Apple, ipad, ipod, ipod touch, IpodTouch, streaming, streaming video, StreamingVideo, Television, Today's Chili, TV
If we’ve learned anything from the long gestation of the SlingPlayer iPhone app, it’s that folks want to stream video to their iPhone, iPad, and / or iPod touch. At least the folks at Hauppauge think so — and the new version (v7.2) of WinTV for the WinTV -HVR tuner board for the PC now includes that functionality. Indeed, the software will even stream 16 and Pregnant (or whatever it is you’re into these days) to your Mac computer. Sadly, all of this streaming is going down via WiFi, but who knows? Maybe you really want to record TV on one machine and then watch it five feet away. It will be available directly from Hauppauge for $9.95, although the company is making a free upgrade available to current owners of WinTV-HVRs. PR after the break.

Continue reading Hauppage WinTV gets WiFi streaming for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Hauppage WinTV gets WiFi streaming for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

Inside CNET Labs Podcast 92: This is the good one

Posted in: Today's Chili

No, I am the good one.

(Credit:
FOX)

Dong has had an epiphany and will no longer resort to excuses to explain his many, many Starcraft 2 losses. He believes the Killer 2100 will give him the edge he needs to take his beatings like a man.

Then, Dong stands …

Originally posted at Inside CNET Labs Podcast

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