Hasta La Gadget!

Looking for a place to buy a netbook? Have you tried any of the thousands of online shops that offer them? Oh, they don’t look quite desperate enough for you? Perhaps you’d rather go somewhere that really needs your money: Blockbuster. Yes, the struggling video chain has made yet another partnership, this time with Archos to sell its Archos 10 10.2-inch netbook at 1,000 of its “select” retail outlets around these United States. The totally predictably spec’d (1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of Ram, 160GB HDD, etc.) netbook lacks any sort of special multimedia customization, and with no optical drive is completely unable to play any of the films you can rent from that same location (those are so obsolete anyway), but does at least come at a decent price: $299. Of course, you can get it right now at Amazon for the same exact moneys, and there you won’t have to fend off any salesmen with hungry eyes. But, if you’re looking for a little attention, this could be your big blue ticket.

Filed under: Laptops

Blockbuster selling Archos 10 netbooks at retail stores, we’re not sure why either originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dilip Krishnan and Rob Fergus at New York University have developed a dark or invisible flash which uses infrared and UV light to take photos in dark places without the nasty glare of a standard flash. Their dark flash camera is made by modifying a flashbulb so that it emits light over a wider range of frequencies and filters out the visible light, and removes filters that prevent the silicon image sensor from detecting IR and UV rays. This flash results in a crisp image which does not have correct color balance, and looks like night vision photography. To correct the colors of the image, the camera also takes a quick color image sans flash right after the dark flash image. The image produced in this second image is predictably grainy and unclear, but the colors are correct. Software is then used to combine the information from the photos to produce the final image (an example of which you see above). There are some minor problems with the method — objects that absorb UV light (such as freckles!) do not show up using this method. The pair will present their work at the Siggraph conference in New Orleans in August.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Invisible flash produces photos without glares originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cheaper or faster?

That’s going to be the burning question for computer shoppers perusing the aisles of electronics retail stores this fall. That’s when the new line of notebooks powered by consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) chips will start appearing in force. They’ll be sitting right next to the trendiest offering in portable computing, Netbooks. Netbooks have come to be viewed as the best way to get cheap, portable computing, but CULV notebooks could change that.

CULV-based notebooks are poised to give Netbooks a run for their money.

(Credit: Macles)

Netbooks are mini-notebooks with screens between 9 and 11 inches, that have lower-power processors, and fewer features, but very attractive price points. CULV-based notebooks are ultrathin notebooks. They come with a more traditional 12- or 13-inch screen, but are also very low-power, so they have great battery life. Starting at $600 to $1,000, they’ll occupy the price range just a step above Netbooks, which run between $200 and $500.

That’s where the choice comes in. Will consumers go for a Netbook, which is less expensive, sometimes harder to use, but very portable? Or a sleek-looking notebook with great battery life and a slightly higher price? Just a bit more money could mean a far more fully featured computer. Who would still go for a Netbook?

Some analysts suggest many won’t.

For its part, the provider of these ultra-low voltage chips, Intel, would prefer to steer people toward CULVs. Sure, Intel is also responsible for the Netbook phenomenon, but those devices carry much lower profit margins. Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday talked up CULV notebooks and their advantages over Netbooks, saying, “Now, if you want a thin and light notebook, you don’t have to just pick a Netbook. You can pick an affordable notebook that has more functionality.”

…

There is more than one way to skin a clock: Our own soft-haired and sensitive Daniel Dumas prefers the indecipherable blipping LEDs of Tokyo Flash watches, I rock an old school Casio calculator watch, and Wired.com editor Dylan Tweney actually measures the hour using the shadows cast by the handsome crags on his perfect face (at least, that’s his excuse for the constant mirror-ward glances).

Designer Sander Mulder, though, has opted to link second to minutes to hours in a recursive chain of hands. The big one shows hours; the medium hand, which dangles from the end of the hour hand, shows minutes, and so on.

At first, the lightning-bolt beauty obscures functionality, and it all looks a little hard to read. But try it: What time is shown above? That’s right. 3:38 and 30 seconds. The video shows the clock in fast-forward action:

The whole thing reminds us of a cross between the Sketch-a-Graph, the hard-to-use toy for inaccurately enlarging, reducing or copying pictures, and one of those magic spiral-drawing toys. Imagine a pencil on the end of the second hand and you’ll see what we mean. Can you buy it? Amazingly, yes, but there will only be 20 of the brass and aluminum timepieces made, plus one artist’s proof. And that single word – artist – means that you’ll have to get in touch to find out the price.

Product page [Sandermulder via Core77]

That was quick. We heard that HTC was moving to standardize around 3.5mm audio jacks but we weren’t necessarily expecting the meaty Touch Pro2 to be on that list of devices. After all, it’s already shipping in its GSM version. Nevertheless, MobileSyrup has a soon-to-be released CDMA version of the Touch Pro2 for Telus (and ultimately, Verizon) that goes straight-up 3.5mm — no goofy ExtUSB jack converter required. Oh, and they’ve got video to prove it. See it after the break.

[Via WMExperts, thanks Guill M.]

Continue reading HTC Touch Pro2 calls dibs on 3.5mm audio jack for Telus and Verizon

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC Touch Pro2 calls dibs on 3.5mm audio jack for Telus and Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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