Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft and HTC today jointly announced a patent deal that will provide “broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for HTC’s mobile phones running the Android mobile platform.” The companies aren’t releasing a whole lot about the deal, save for the fact that “HTC will pay Microsoft an undisclosed sum for these IP [intellectual property] rights.”

The details aren’t really the key here, however. At least not from a public relations standpoint. The announcement comes in the wake of a massive patent suit from Apple, which alleged 20 instances of patent infringement on the part of HTC.

A release issued today by Microsoft makes a big point to strike a very different tone. Quoting Microsoft IP Corporate VP Horacio Gutierrez:

HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and today’s agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with HTC.

Beneath that rhetoric of unity, however, is an implication that, given the chance, Microsoft may go after other Android handset manufacturers who infringe on its IP.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more direct competitor to the BlackBerry businessphone hegemony than Nokia’s E7x series. It’s therefore quite logical that only a day after RIM chief Mike Lazaridis made the white Bold official, Nokia is following up with its own pale-hued E72. Coming with a skinned UI to match the externals, the new handset is being announced alongside a firmware update (for E72s of all colors and creeds) that updates Ovi Maps, improves social networking integration, and allows location sharing through Facebook. You know, for when you wanna let your hair down after a hard day at the office. Internet radio of an unspecified variety has been included as well, along with general performance and stability improvements. Both the white handset and new firmware are available through Nokia today.

Nokia E72 gets white paint option, firmware update originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Laptopogram. An old-new name for a marriage of ancient and modern technology. It works like this: take a piece of photo-sensitive paper (if you can find a darkroom supply store that is still trading), press it to the screen of your computer and switch that screen on for an appropriate interval (probably less than ten seconds depending on brightness). Splosh the paper through developer, stop and fixer baths, turn on the lights (you did turn out the lights, right?) and you’re done.

This wonderful practice was named by nerd-tographer* Aditya Mandayam, who presses the paper to the screen of his IBM R51 Thinkpad and runs a (Linux) command-line script to blip the screen on and off.

All prints were developed on Ilford Ilfospeeed RC Deluxe 5 Glossy paper using Tetenal Neofin Blau with water as a stop bath and a fixer of unknown provenance.

Photo paper registers a negative of the image projected upon it: more light darkens the paper. Normally you would project a negative film frame down on to the photo-paper, but fortunately modern computers are adept at image processing and can invert a picture easily. You can also “dodge and burn” parts of the image before printing.

These photos are more like contact prints or photograms, but the results are something else entirely. This is probably helped by the Tetenal Neofin, which is a B&W film developer, not meant for paper. Perhaps by keeping the screen as dim as possible (to minimize light from the shadows) and by using a proper paper developer, the whites would stay a little whiter. Still, I’m pretty tempted to get back into the darkroom, although I’m almost certain the chemicals under the sink are out of date by now.

Laptopogram [Tumblr via Kottke]

*Another made up term, this time mine. Sorry.

Yes, really. The Boy Scouts of America have finally recognized that most important of modern children’s pastimes with the creation of a “Video Games” belt loop and pin. However, our initial excitement on this momentous day is drastically lessened after reading how one goes about earning them. Here are the belt loop’s three requirements:

1. Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games. Check your video games to be sure they are right for your age.
2. With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that includes your chores, homework, and video gaming. Do your best to follow this schedule.
3. Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher.

To go on and earn the pin, Scouts will need to teach adults how to play videogames, participate in a family gaming tournament, and learn how to comparison shop for prices. In other words, the Boy Scouts aren’t interested in how many digits you have in your Gamerscore, don’t care how stuffed your Trophy Room is, and shun your techniques for surviving the latest Trials HD expansion. We, however, are all ears.

Update: We’re getting a number of e-mails upset that this post does not explicitly point out that these awards are for the Cub Scouts, not for the Boy Scouts. Mind you, the Cub Scouts are most definitely a part of the greater Boy Scouts of America organization, and anyone who knows anything about the BSA in the first place knows that pins and belt loops are exclusively for Cub Scouts. So, chill, yeah? Also, we’re still waiting on that Trials HD advice — we can’t get 10 feet on those new Extreme levels without repeated faceplants.

Boy Scouts introduce videogame badge, other badges ask ‘Really?’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It is curiously appropriate that this Pac-Man cutting board is made in the tough, end-grain style. These boards are fashioned from wooden strips glued together with their grain running parallel, and the board itself is a cross-section cut from this master block.

This gives a great pixellated 8-bit style to the picture of Pac-Man, Blinky (or Clyde) and the power-pill in between them. End-grain boards are also self healing (like Pac-Man, kinda) as your knife doesn’t cut the wood fibers but gently pushes them aside with every stroke, like the bristles of a brush. This keeps your knife sharper, longer – not really Pac-Man related, but still cool.

These particular boards are made by Etsy seller 1337motif, and are built from blocks of “walnut, hard-maple, and cherry put together with FDA approved, water-proof glue, and treated with a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax.” An a-maze-ing rendering of the cutting-edge 1980 arcade game. Waka-waka-waka! $165.

PacMan Cutting Board [Etsy via Geeky Gadgets. Thanks, Julian!]

See Also:

• Steampunk Pac Man Game: Pac Gentleman