HP developing materials for reflective color e-paper displays

Who knew HP was such a big player in the display business? Just days after announcing that a flexible display from Mars may very well hit the market out of Hewlett-Packard’s own laboratories, a fresh report has surfaced over at Technology Review surrounding yet another display tech that the company is feverishly working on. It’s bruited that the outfit is “developing new materials for brighter low-power displays” — think E Ink, but with color… and a twist. Frustrated with what nature was offering (or not offering, as it were), scientists at HP decided to concoct new materials that “use ambient light to create a more vibrant color for video-capable, low-power screens.” It’s hard to say just yet whether or not this stuff will end up suitable for mass production; we’ve been hearing about color e-paper for years now, and even though Qualcomm’s Mirasol display showed great promise at CES, we’ve yet to hear of any progress towards a market-ready product. Hit the source if you’re thirsty for technobabble, but don’t go looking down on that Kindle just yet.

HP developing materials for reflective color e-paper displays originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aava Mobile reveals Virta 2 smartphone development kit, we go hands-on

When we met with Finnish startup Aava Mobile today, they pulled out the same old prototype phone… then, to our great surprise, dropped a brand-new device right alongside to show us how their Moorestown-based ambitions have grown. This is the Virta 2 reference design, which will ship to developers soon, with the same basic hardware inside but a few important tweaks. First of all, you’ll note that’s MeeGo on this screen, not the droid we were looking for, but that’s because the development kit can switch between operating systems by merely swapping out the microSD card.

Whereas the original prototype had a thin, flimsy shell, the Virta 2’s gone downright rugged, ditching the iPhone chrome for a more durable gunmetal frame, and there’s a full compliment of sensors (compass, accelerometer, ambient light and proximity) alongside quad-band radios, WiFi, Bluetooth and a pair of cameras for your video chat testing needs. At €1900 (roughly $2393) per unit, the dev handset isn’t exactly cheap, but where else are you going to get an Atom Z600 to play around with? Devices ship late August or early September, and Aava expects the platform (but not this exact handset) to see commercial availability next year. Find preorders at our source link, if you’ve got the bankroll.

Aava Mobile reveals Virta 2 smartphone development kit, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla planting electric engines into two Toyota prototype bodies

Word on the street had it that Tesla’s $50 million deal with Toyota wasn’t formal back in late May, but evidently things have made positive progress since. According to a new (though admittedly brief) report over at CNN, Toyota is currently working with the electric automaker on a pair of prototype vehicles. As the story goes, Tesla will be delivering two prototypes to Toyota “by the end of the month,” with the vehicles using “Tesla’s electric motors and battery packs and the bodies of Toyota vehicles.” Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel has been quoted as saying that the two outfits have “made a lot of progress in a short amount of time,” and we couldn’t be more excited to see what kind of results will come from this tie-up. We can’t help but hope that those regenerative brakes do a bit more than regenerate, though. Sorry, we had to. Really.

Tesla planting electric engines into two Toyota prototype bodies originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 prototype slipping out to Imagine Cup finalists

You thought about shipping off to Warsaw for the Imagine Cup 2010 finals, didn’t you? ‘Tis a shame you didn’t, because Microsoft is fixing to hand out Windows Phone 7 prototypes to every last finalist at the show (around 400, we’re hearing). The winning team has already received their handsets after receiving a mighty round of applause from developing Beastware, and while it’s impossible to tell from images so far, the phones that they acquired look to be the same as the Samsung device we toyed with back in June. Funny — we reckoned the finalists at a show like this would be in that elusive Kin generation.

Update: Microsoft just pinged us with a clarification. Only the Rockstar Award winners are getting prototype devices today, with the rest of the finalists on a list to receive “a retail Windows Phone 7 device when and where they become available.”

[Image courtesy of artificialignorance]

Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 prototype slipping out to Imagine Cup finalists originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video)

Robonaut2 may have fantastic biceps, but raw muscle won’t put a man humanoid on the moon — that takes rockets. Rockets like the one in this RR-1 prototype lander, recently outfitted with a Guidance Embedded Navigator Integration Environment (GENIE) system to let the craft safely descend to the lunar surface. On June 23rd, NASA and partner Armadillo Aerospace put the system to the test, hoping it could figure out the complex algorithms necessary to process volumes of data from the laser altimeter, GPS and inertial sensors, and quickly enough to steer the rocket engine accordingly… but the machine performed like a charm. See its first solo flight in an inspiring, flame-filled video after the break, and skip to 4:12 for the good stuff.

Continue reading NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video)

NASA successfully tests autonomous lunar lander navigation system, codename GENIE (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Liquid-cooled Asetek prototype redefines our all-in-one expectations (video)

We’ve been moaning about middling AIO performance for a while now, and outside of Apple’s spendy iMacs, not many have stepped up to the plate with equivalent grunt to what you might be able to splice together with a separate case and a bit of elbow grease. That won’t stay true for long, however, if Asetek’s prototype gets picked up by one of your favorite vendors. This liquid-cooled beastie — which proudly proclaims it has the same profile as the iMac at 58mm in thickness — is capable of powering and chilling both a 2.66GHz Core i7-920 and a GeForce GTX 280M. That’s a total TDP output of over 200W, which is handled by a proprietary radiator design that’s integrated into the stand and some pump-assisted action convecting the heat away from the chips. It both sounds and looks like a winner to us — check it out after the break to see what you think.

Continue reading Liquid-cooled Asetek prototype redefines our all-in-one expectations (video)

Liquid-cooled Asetek prototype redefines our all-in-one expectations (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia (N9 / N8-01?) prototype sized up against iPhone 4 and EVO 4G on video

Setting aside the naming confusion, this Nokia prototype procured by Negri Electronics just keeps attracting our attention. Though we saw plenty of it in an earlier video, this latest rendezvous between Finnish hardware and camera lens includes a few familiar suspects to offer us the best size comparison we’ve had so far. Squaring up against a 3.5-inch iPhone 4, the QWERTY slider from Nokia seems barely any larger from the front though quite a bit thicker from the side — an expansion justified by its inclusion of a physical keyboard. It does a lot better when compared to the EVO 4G and the departing iPhone 3GS, looking only marginally chunkier than those keyboard-less devices. Don’t take our word for it though — skip past the break and see for yourself.

P.S. — The UI on this device looks to us a lot more like Symbian^3 than the S60 the narrator believes it’s running, leading us to think that this is most likely a keyboard-equipped variant of the N8.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Nokia (N9 / N8-01?) prototype sized up against iPhone 4 and EVO 4G on video

Nokia (N9 / N8-01?) prototype sized up against iPhone 4 and EVO 4G on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft hints at touchless Surface combining camera and transparent OLED (video)

We’ve always wondered whether Microsoft’s multitouch table would actually ever arrive, dreaming of Minority Report hijinx all the while, but after seeing what the company’s Applied Sciences Group is currently cooking up — a touchless telepresence display — we’d rather drop that antiquated pinch-to-zoom stuff in favor of what might be Surface’s next generation. Starting with one of Samsung’s prototype transparent OLED panels, Microsoft dropped a sub-two-inch camera behind the glass, creating a 3D gesture control interface that tracks your every move by literally seeing through the display. Combined with that proprietary wedge-shaped lens we saw earlier this month and some good ol’ Johnny Chung Lee headtracking by the man himself, we’re looking at one hell of a screen. Don’t you dare read another word without seeing the prototype in a trifecta of videos after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft hints at touchless Surface combining camera and transparent OLED (video)

Microsoft hints at touchless Surface combining camera and transparent OLED (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mercedes-Benz SLS E-Cell prototype fuels our electric dreams with 526 horses

Oh, electric supercar, why do you tease us so? Mercedes is latest to throw up a prototype of what it expects future rubber burners to look like, and its SLS E-Cell doesn’t disappoint. Based on its petrol-guzzling SLS AMG model, this beast produces 526 horsepower and 649 pound-feet of torque, thanks to four motors (one for each wheel) allied to a battery array that can provide an industry-leading 480kW of juice. How fast does that get you to the magical 60mph marker? Try four seconds. There’s a handsome 10-inch infotainment panel in the center console, which you may see after the break, but the best news is that this prototype can be driven now and could well turn into a production Benz at some point in 2013.

Continue reading Mercedes-Benz SLS E-Cell prototype fuels our electric dreams with 526 horses

Mercedes-Benz SLS E-Cell prototype fuels our electric dreams with 526 horses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo 3DS will launch ‘in all major markets’ by March 2011, design still being tweaked

When Nintendo of Japan first announced the 3DS (think: way back in March), it promised a release of the portable by the fiscal year ending March 2011. Given the DS and DSi’s six-month global rollout window, however, we weren’t sure if that applied to the world or just the company’s backyard — sure, we’ve heard rumors of a UK release in October, but nothing’s been confirmed. Cue Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime to give a definitive answer: “The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011.” Well, that about settles it in our mind. Fils-Aime also clarifies that what we saw on the floor is not the final design — something that was mentioned during the press conference — but we wouldn’t expect anything more than slightly altered button placement (for its part, the official site lists “look,” battery, pre-installed software, and supported languages as TBA). But hey, if you want to believe a third screen is possible, don’t let us stop you from dreaming.

Nintendo 3DS will launch ‘in all major markets’ by March 2011, design still being tweaked originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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