May 10
ATT takes to its Facebook page to reveal the availability datea and pricing of the upcoming Palm Pre Plus smartphone. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20004597-85.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Dialed In/a/p
May 10
GigaPan’s robotic camera mounts can help spit out pictures to create fantastically detailed panoramic photos. That’s what photographer Gerald Donovan has used to create what is being billed as the world’s largest photo.
Donovan has created a 45-gigapixel image of Dubai that, if printed, would be the size of nearly 1,200 billboards, says GigaPan.
The photo consists of 4,250 pictures that took about three-and-a-half hours to shoot.
“This was intended as a technical test,” Donovan said in a statement. “It was about exploring the limits of the hardware and software out there.”
Earlier attempts using the GigaPan Epic mount have resulted in an 18-gigapixel panoramic view photo of Prague and a 26-gigapixel image of Paris.
GigaPan launched its Epic Pro mount in March. The mount can handle a DSLR camera and lens combination of up to 10 lbs. Earlier versions of the mount were created for lightweight and compact cameras. The Pro, designed with a magnesium chassis and aluminum arm, weighs about 8 lbs including the battery pack and features such as the ability to adjust time between exposure, motor speed, aspect ratio and picture overlap.
The image of Dubai’s landscape was shot using using a Canon 7D camera coupled with the Pro mount. With the help of GigaPan engineers, Donovan stitched the thousands of photos into one very large image using the Autopano stitching software and uploaded it to the GigaPan.org site.
Check out the 45-gigapixel photo of Dubai. You can zoom in and out and get a great view of Dubai including the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khailfa. The picture isn’t crystal clear though. Donovan says the poor air quality in Dubai when he shot the photo is to blame.
See Also:
- Gigapan Robotic Camera Rig Goes Pro
- Hands-On With the Gigapan Epic 100 Panorama Robot
- GigaPan Releases Camera Rig for Automated Panorama Photos
- 18-Gigapixel Panorama Offers Breathtaking View of Prague
Photo: Panoramic view of Dubai/Gerald Donovan
May 10
It sounds like Nintendo is considering a similar online gaming business model like the one that has worked so well for Microsoft’s Xbox Live.
May 10
CNET editors round up in-car GPS devices with integrated Bluetooth for hands-free calling. Featured devices include the Motorola MotoNav TN765T, the Gamin Nuvi 765T, and the Pioneer AVIC-U310BT. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20004595-48.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Car Tech blog/a/p
May 10
iSkin Unveils Cerulean Bluetooth Audio Gear for the iPad
Posted in: apple ipad, audio, bluetooth, headset, ipad, MP3 Digital Audio, Today's Chili, Wireless
You have a brand new iPad and you’re enjoying some streaming Netflix or a movie you’ve loaded up on the device yourself, but the iPad’s built-in speaker just doesn’t cut it for you. Perhaps you’re traveling, on a plane or a train, and you want a way to watch video and hear the audio from it without fiddling with headphone cables or bothering everyone around you. Enter the new iSkin Cerulean line of Bluetooth audio gear for the iPad. The Cerulean TX transmitter, RX receiver, and F1 headphones are designed to give you portable Bluetooth audio that looks good without cables or batteries.
The only drawback to the Cerulean line is that it all relies on Bluetooth for audio, which may be great for portability but it’s pretty harsh on audio quality. Most Bluetooth audio peripherals compress the audio stream enough that it’s noticeable even to non-audiophiles, and true audiophiles won’t go near it. However, if portability and flexibility are your goal, the iSkin’s Cerulean transmitters and receivers not only give you a way to get wireless audio from your iPad to your ears, they also work with other speaker docks and peripherals that can make the most of the compressed audio.
May 10
Satoru Iwata has declared war on Steve Jobs, but he’d better shore up a few of Nintendo’s most annoying quirks first if he wants to take his best shot.
May 10
Wired Video: Zombie Bashing and Other Wicked iPad Apps
Posted in: Apple, apps, ipad, Today's Chili, videos
The iPad has been selling for only a month, and there are already 5,000 iPad apps in the App Store. In this episode of the Gadget Lab video podcast, I highlight four apps I’ve become attached to since I bought my iPad.
The first is a game called Plants vs. Zombies HD. It’s a gorgeous 2-D tower-defense game that involves planting pea pods, potatoes and other bizarre flora to defend your lawn against a horde of invading zombies. If they reach your house, you lose. It’s a charmingly simple game, which makes it enjoyable for people of all ages. Plants vs. Zombies HD costs $10. Download Link
I also cover IM+, the first decent multiclient instant messaging app available for the iPad. It’s a little buggy, but the overall UI makes excellent use of the iPad’s touchscreen. In looks best in landscape mode, where it displays your buddy list alongside your chats. The app costs $10. Download Link
The third app I use more than anything else on my iPad: Comic Zeal, an open comic book reader. You can download any open comics you find on the web and easily load them into this app through iTunes. That’s very liberating compared to the Marvel app, which limits you to downloading only Marvel comics. Comic Zeal is eight bucks in the App Store. Download Link
Finally, I give a shoutout to the Dropbox iPad app. Dropbox is a popular storage service that gives you a folder that’s stored on the internet (aka the cloud). You can drop various types of media in your Dropbox and then access the folder on any device running a Dropbox app, including smartphones, computers and now the iPad. The iPad version is beautiful and extremely useful for carrying your life on the go. I use it a lot for work. The Dropbox service is free for 2 GB of storage per month. It costs $10 a month for 50 GB and $20 per month for 100 GB. The iPad app is free in the App Store. Download Link
This episode of the Gadget Lab podcast was produced by Annaliza Savage, with camerawork by Michael Lennon and editing by Fernando Cardoso. For more video from Wired.com, go to www.wired.com/video.
See Also:
- Video: 5 Sweet Apps to Break in Your iPad
- 15 iPad Apps You Should Download Today
- Apple’s iPad Tablet: Full Coverage
May 10
Just when we think that platter-based storage is on its way out it keeps on coming back with a vengeance. A few years ago it was perpendicular recording boosting storage densities by a few orders of magnitude, now it’s a pair of new techniques that could push things much further. Your average disk today can manage a couple-hundred GB per square inch while still delivering reliable writes, but if all goes to plan the write methods called bit-patterned recording (BPR) and thermally-assisted recording (TAR) could raise that to 1TB per inch initially and upwards of 10TB per inch down the road. BPR relies on segregating the disk sectors with lithographed “islands” while TAR relies on heating and cooling techniques that preserve the data in nearby sectors. When these Wonder Twins combine, disk sectors can be as small as 15nm in diameter and write speeds can hit 250Mb/sec. Yes, that’s megabits, so while you’ll be able to store a lot more data than on conventional platters, you won’t be able to do so any more quickly than now.
New HDD writing methods could boost platter densities by 5x or more originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
May 10
German company HMB-TEC has listed some apps which, together with accompanying hardware, will turn your iPhone into a fan, flashlight, laser pointer, and even a stethoscope.
May 10
HP Slate Could Get a Makeover With Palm’s WebOS
Posted in: HP, Media Players, palm, rumor, slate, tablets, Today's Chili, webos
The acquisition of smartphone maker Palm could have an impact on HP’s plans for its “Slate” tablet.
The Slate could be re-branded “Hurricane” and released with a new operating system based on Palm’s WebOS, according to a blog post on the Examiner.com web site. The Hurricane could be released in the third quarter of the year.
For tablet enthusiasts who want a device that’s not created by Apple, the HP Slate — a tablet with iPad-like styling — seems like a promising alternative. But the Slate’s development has been slow and rocky. Apple has already sold more than 1 million iPads while HP has been trying to finish its product.
HP introduced the Slate to gadget enthusiasts through a video in March. The company didn’t announce technical specifications for the device, but it released two short video clips that indicated the device would run Windows 7.
The Slate would also have a built-in camera, video-recording capability, USB port, an SD card reader and support for Adobe Flash — features pointedly aimed at the iPad, which lacks all five. A leaked company document suggested the Slate would cost $550 or $600 for the 32-GB and 64-GB models, respectively.
But late last month, HP said it was acquiring smartphone maker Palm. Jack Gold, an analyst with J. Gold associates says Palm’s new operating system, WebOS, created for its Palm Pre and Pixi phones could be a good fit for the HP tablet. Later, TechCrunch reported that HP could kill its Windows 7 tablet and instead find a way to launch a product that would use WebOS.
The latest suggestion that HP might re-brand the Slate as Hurricane seems to bear out the rumors of a WebOS-based tablet.
A HP spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company does not talk about “rumors and speculation.” The HP and Palm acquisition closes in July, and till then, the two companies are expected to continue to act independently, according to government rules.
Examiner.com doesn’t have a track record when it comes to gadget rumors but, if you take into account the buzz from different sources, it is likely that HP is re-evaluating its plans for the Slate. The question is, how long can the company afford to wait with Apple already charging ahead with the iPad?
See Also:
- HP’s Windows 7 Slate Strikes at the iPad
- Leaked HP Slate Fails to Impress in Early Peek
- HP Offers Another Peek at Its Tablet, Specs Leaked?
- Gallery: 8 Tablets That Aren’t Made by Apple
Photo: HP
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