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Jan 12

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and Slider: another look

Posted in: Android, ASUS, Features, gingerbread, honeycomb, impressions, london, preview, prototype, slider, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, uk

Remember those eccentric ASUS Android tablets at CES? Yeah, it’s all a bit of a blur for us as well, but turns out both the Eee Pad Transformer and Slider prototypes just made it to the BETT (British Educational Training and Technology) Show in London this morning, so we decided to wander along to get our hands dirty again. Sadly, the Transformer had a bit of a rough ride from Vegas and remained dormant, but we were still able to admire its sturdy keyboard dock with great key press travel. And in case you’ve forgotten, said dock is also an external battery that doubles the juice up to 16 hours. UK shoppers will see this slate popping up in the stores around May or June for £379 ($597), and its docking kit for £100 ($158).

We were more fortunate with the functioning Slider prototype, even though it had the same sliding issue we saw at CES. But fear not, as we were told that the engineers are already reworking the mechanism, and here’s hoping that they’ll do something about the flexing keyboard as well. As for software, we didn’t have time to test everything, but we were surprised by the general snappiness of the current Froyo test build. And speaking of which, we’re not too sure what the plan is with ASUS’ Android roadmap — even though we were told at CES that Honeycomb will be on these tablets at launch, the folks we met today said that they’ll be shipped with Gingerbread instead; and even then, there’s no time frame for the 3.0 upgrade just yet. Anyhow, this is less of a concern for the Slider given its July or August launch, but it’ll cost you a hefty £429 ($676).

Additionally, both tablets will see their 3G variants in the UK a quarter after their respective launches, but regardless, it’s never too soon to start a petition for your carrier to spread the ASUS tablet fever.

Gallery: ASUS Eee Pad Transformer: another look

Gallery: ASUS Eee Pad Slider: another look

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and Slider: another look originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 30

UK and French carriers working on cellular coverage for Channel Tunnel, aim to finish by 2012 Olympics

Posted in: london, o2, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, vodafone

If you live in a technophile city like Taipei, you’ll have been enjoying underground 4G for a long time now, but in London the rule is that you have to bid adieu to your mobile connectivity when diving into a tunnel. The city’s Mayor has been active in encouraging (forcing?) the major British carriers to install the necessary equipment to provide coverage on the Tube, and now we’re hearing that ambition has stretched beyond the nation’s borders as well. The Daily Telegraph reports that Vodafone, O2, Everything Everywhere, and Three from the UK along with Orange, SFR and Bouygues from France have agreed to share the cost of putting together a £20 million ($30.8m) project for making cellular coverage possible while traveling through the 31.4-mile Channel Tunnel between the two countries. The goal is to get things up and running by the Olympics in 2012, though we’ve no indication as to what speeds those wireless data transfers will reach. Still, having some bars is better than none, right?

UK and French carriers working on cellular coverage for Channel Tunnel, aim to finish by 2012 Olympics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 28

CCTV cameras help solve ‘six crimes a day’ in London, says Metropolitan Police

Posted in: Law, london, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom

Been questioning the value of having omnipresent surveillance cameras tracking your every move? Well, if you’re an outlaw, you still won’t like them, but for the rest of us law-abiding types, London’s Metropolitan Police has a comforting stat to share: almost six crimes a day are being resolved with the help of CCTV footage. It’s being used primarily to aid the identification of perps on the run, and the number of suspects identified as a result has gone up to 2,512 this year. There is a bright light for criminals, however, as the Met admits digital recordings aren’t kept around as long as VHS ones used to be, meaning that if you slip the dragnet once, you’ll probably be alright. So good news for everyone!

CCTV cameras help solve ‘six crimes a day’ in London, says Metropolitan Police originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 17

Volkswagen’s London Taxi Concept: smaller, prettier, more electric than the real thing

Posted in: car, concept, electric, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, london, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom

London would do well to dispense with the Concept label right now and just turn these into its next fleet of people carriers. Volkswagen has unveiled the latest in a series of World Taxis it’s doing, prettying up London’s admittedly iconic black cabs with a sheen of new paint, an all-electric drive, and an infusion of tablet-based infotainment. Based on the Up! city car, the London Taxi Concept has an estimated range of 186 miles and takes an hour to go from zero to an 80 percent charge. It also has a grayscale version of the Union Jack emblazoned on its roof, guess that’s just how VW rolls. Sadly, we doubt anyone will be in a hurry to heed our sage advice and start using this concept any time soon, particularly since it doesn’t pass London’s taxi regulations at present, but it’s a harbinger of a future we’d like to see become real.

Continue reading Volkswagen’s London Taxi Concept: smaller, prettier, more electric than the real thing

Volkswagen’s London Taxi Concept: smaller, prettier, more electric than the real thing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 30

Talay Robot will document your tweet, give it a soundtrack, Twitvid the results (video)

Posted in: london, robot, robotics, social networking, SocialNetworking, sony, Today's Chili, twitter, video

Tweet a message @talayrobot and something magical happens. An ST Robotics arm whirs to life inside Sony Music’s London HQ and starts transcribing your words of wisdom unto a glamorously lit whiteboard — in the finest handwriting font its designers could find! Best part is that the whole thing gets filmed and the video is sent back to you within a matter of minutes, equipped with an audio clip from Sony’s Talay Riley. Yes, it’s a promotional stunt, but it’s also undeniably one of the coolest intersections of robotics and social networking we’ve yet seen. Skip past the break for some video examples or get tweeting and create your own.

Continue reading Talay Robot will document your tweet, give it a soundtrack, Twitvid the results (video)

Talay Robot will document your tweet, give it a soundtrack, Twitvid the results (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 23

360-degree, 80 Gigapixel Panorama is World’s Highest Resolution Image

Posted in: london, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

These suckers have no clue that they are being silently judged from a mile away.

London. One of the world’s most fabled urban metropolises is ready for its close-up. Really close-up. CRAZY close-up. Eighty friggin’ gigapixel closeup!

Photographer Jeffrey Martin took this 80 billion pixel, 360-degree panoramic image over the course of three days from the top of the Center Point building by digitally combining 7,886 individual photos. If the image was printed at normal resolution, it would measure 115 feet long and 56 feet high.

The image allows you to zoom in on pedestrians or people going about their business inside buildings far off in the distance. You are even able to zoom into the Westminster clock face to read the time from a mile and a half away.

Faces were blurred to protect their privacy and, according to the Daily Mail, the photographic team also had to censor one image described as “naughty,” though they declined to tell where it is or what uniquely British form of waggery transpired.

Nov 22

Houston will be home to America’s largest car charging network, identity crisis

Posted in: BestBuy, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, london, Today's Chili

Everything is somewhat more gargantuan in Texas, so its only natural that Houston has its eye on having the largest network of electric vehicle chargers in the country. The plan is a privately funded brain-child of power plant operator NRG Energy, which hopes to install 150 charging stations in the 25 mile vicinity of downtown Houston starting in February. Chargers will be placed at common retail locations such as Walgreens and Best Buy, but given that 80 to 90 percent of charging will occur in homes, an $89 all-you-can-juice monthly plan will also include the installation of 240-volt charging systems in residences. NRG doesn’t expect to turn a profit on its $10 million investment for several years, but hopes that taking the proactive step will create a lucrative business in the future as electric vehicle prices (hopefully) hit the skids. The company also wants to build a similar network in Dallas in early 2011, and perhaps San Antonio and Austin in the future as well. Still, while the plans are admirable for the home of big-oil, compared to London’s government-backed 1,300 station plan, NRG’s Houston aspirations still seem positively Rhode Island-sized.

Houston will be home to America’s largest car charging network, identity crisis originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 15

Source London: network of 1,300 charging stations coming by end of 2013

Posted in: electric vehicle, ElectricVehicle, ev, hybrid, london, Today's Chili

London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced a plan to create a city-wide electric vehicle network dubbed Source London. It calls for 1,300 public-use charging stations to be installed by the end of 2013 – assuming the Mayan’s weren’t right about 2012. Any driver who registered for the network and paid an estimated annual membership fee of £100 (roughly $160 at the current exchange rate) could juice their EVs across all of the stations. For perspective, keep in mind that the city already has 250-plus stations with 16,729 electric vehicles and hybrids registered, of which only 2,100 draw power by being plugged in. That implies if the plan is completed, drivers would technically have better odds of finding a charging station than a gas pump in the city. Combined with Johnson’s schemes to provide cell coverage in the tube and city-wide WiFi, it’s also yet another example of how jolly old London is prepping for the future in between bites of scones and episodes of Top Gear. To learn more about the project, make sure to check out the source link below.

Source London: network of 1,300 charging stations coming by end of 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 01

Carbon Disclosure Project Looks To Reveal Carbon Footprint Of Big Cities

Posted in: london, Today's Chili

Just how how much pollution do large cities produce? That’s what the Carbon Disclosure Project aims to find out. The CDP is hoping to determine the carbon footprint of over 50 of the world’s largest urban centers, and already three major cities have signed up: Toronto, New York City, and London.

The CDP would see these cities voluntarily measure and report on their carbon emissions.

“We know cities are the largest producers of carbon emissions, but it is vital that these outputs are quantified and in the public domain in order to track our progress in reducing them,” London mayor Boris Johnson said. “London’s city government is already committed to disclosing a range of data, not just with regard to climate change, to help catalyse change to the benefit of residents.”

Via Business Green.

Sep 30

Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown

Posted in: Apple, camera, iPhone, london, nokia, Smartphones, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, video

What’s the first thing you should do when you get the N8? Considering it packs the biggest image sensor embedded in a phone yet, Carl Zeiss optics, and an eight-digit pixel count, it seemed obvious to us that the answer was to take it on a picture- and video-taking stroll around London. On our way out we saw our iPhone 4 looking all sad and lonely, so we went ahead and brought it along as well. Below you shall find one gallery of pure, unadulterated N8 sample shots, another interspersed with the iPhone’s results for comparison’s sake, and a final one with side-by-side 100 percent crops from each image taker. Once you’ve digested all of those, we suggest hopping past the break and tucking into some tasty video comparisons for dessert.

Naturally, all the images are entirely unretouched (but for our masterly watermarking) and the iPhone 4’s HDR hocus pocus has been left off. We’ve also provided a zip file containing all the full-res imagery shot with the N8 in a link below.

A quick note is also merited about the N8’s resolution. The sensor’s display ratio is 4:3, which means that full 12 megapixel shots are only available in those dimensions. The camera software, however, defaults to shooting 9 megapixel snaps at the increasingly popular 16:9 ratio — this is done simply by cropping away the “excess” bars at the top and bottom of the image, meaning that the 9 megapixel images are giving us identical performance as the 12 megapixel ones, they’re just chopped down (from 4000 x 3000 to 4000 x 2248) for the sake of convenience. Now, on with the show!

Gallery: Nokia N8 sample photos