Nikon D90 torn down, rebuilt in pink (video)
Words... what good are words when you're trying to describe the horrific visage of a growling, rugged, heavyweight camera coated in the frilly tutu of the color spectrum,
magenta? We shan't try to describe the peculiar mix of revolt, disgust and subtle desire that this whole thing incites in us, and will just point you after the break for the video. There's plenty of good clean fun to be had while exploring the dismantled
D90 (though there's one instance of foul language when the modder gets an electric shock, understandable) and if you're of a nervous disposition you can always skip the shockingly pink finale.
Continue reading Nikon D90 torn down, rebuilt in pink (video)
Nikon D90 torn down, rebuilt in pink (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 01:49:00
ASUS Cine5 is 'world's most compact' five-channel speaker, doesn't forget the blue LEDs
Seriously, who told manufacturers that we're in love with garish LED status lights?ASUS has strapped a glowing orb of
unnecessariness around the volume knob of the Cine5 -- an otherwise perfectly acceptable and appreciably diminutive PC
soundbar. With an array of speaker drivers integrated into that curvy body, ASUS claims the Cine5 produces realistic multidirectional surround sound, but does admit it's mostly intended for smaller spaces such as study rooms. The announcement also includes a nod to FPS gamers, with claims that the improved positional audio on offer will benefit both gameplay immersion and accuracy when identifying a sound source, though we reckon the biggest boon will still be the elimination of the extra cables and speakers one usually needs to get one's surround sound on. Price and availability have not yet been made public, but knowing ASUS both should be in the reasonable range of the market.
ASUS Cine5 is 'world's most compact' five-channel speaker, doesn't forget the blue LEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 01:21:00
HP ropes in Dr. Dre for 'Lets Do Amazing' personality makeover
When you think about HP, do you think about printers or maybe IT outsourcing? How about HP smartphones, ever think of them? You
do know that HP still sells
iPAQs right? That's ok, we have to remind ourselves too, occasionally, and therein lies the problem: most consumers don't have any idea what HP's 300,000 employees are up to... or even care (ever encountere a rabid HP fanboy before?). While the enthusiast community is certainly anticipating the release of HP's
Slate or next
Voodoo device, you'd be hard pressed to find any "normal people" who have even heard of them. So what's HP to do?
Starting this weekend, HP will be blitzing the airwaves with its first advertising campaign in more than five years. The $40 million, eight-week "Lets Do Amazing" campaign features a number of celebs like "zany" comedian Rhys Darby and photographer Annie Leibovitz in pitches meant to give the very serious company a lighthearted makeover while explaining what it does. Hell, even
HP fave Dr. Dre was convinced to shill, though knowing HP they'll probably use his given name of Andre Romelle Young.
HP ropes in Dr. Dre for 'Lets Do Amazing' personality makeover originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 12:51:00
Toshiba will have its own family of slates by this time next year
Before the
iPad and before the
Slate, the most exciting touchy tablety thing in our lives was
Toshiba's JournE multimedia tablet. Now that the Japanese compu-maker has seen what the competition has on offer, it's proudly proclaimed itself back in the running with an entire family of slate devices it's planning to introduce near the end of 2010 or in early 2011. "It has proved to be a mistake to underestimate these new categories" is the word from Toshiba's Jeff Barney, which indicates that not even he sees that much potential in the form factor, but his company is pushing ahead with its plans for fear of being left behind. Also quoted in the
Fortune piece is ASUS' inimitable
Jonney Shih, who makes sure to remind us that without multitasking, Flash support, or a webcam for videoconferencing, the iPad leaves plenty of room for devices richer in features to grab market share. All we know for certain is that the major players are
falling in line to make 2010 truly
the year of tablet -- whether or not consumers will place their stamp of approval on this vendor-driven craze, though, remains to be seen.
Toshiba will have its own family of slates by this time next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 12:22:00
The internet earns a nomination for 2010 Nobel Prize
Isn't Italy a place of contrast? After the country's judiciary slammed Google for failing to keep a tight enough leash on user-uploaded content, we're now hearing that its local version of Wired magazine is putting forward the internet as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its contributions to "helping advance dialogue, debate and consensus." Right then. Just in case you think this is all a bit silly -- and you should -- we're also hearing Nicholas Negroponte and 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi are both in support of the idea, which has been described as "a Nobel for each and every one of us" by Internet for Peace, an organization set up specifically to promote the web's candidacy. That's a pretty succinct way of putting it, but it also shows what's wrong with the idea: nothing devalues a prize's worth and meaning quite like handing it out to everyone. Just imagine icanhascheezburger.com slapping a legitimate Nobel laureate badge up on its homepage and you'll know what we mean.
The internet earns a nomination for 2010 Nobel Prize originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 11:54:00
AT&T completes 100-Gigabit Ethernet field trial using new Cisco gear, proves it does care
Remember those
network investments that AT&T was talking up just days before Time Warner
slipped over an offer for help? Looks as if the firm wasn't kidding around, but there's still nothing here that should get you excited about more available bandwidth in the coming days. Utilizing that
fancy new Cisco router, the carrier recently completed a live network environmental trial of 100-Gigabit backbone network technology (far more hasty than that 40-Gigabit stuff that's around today), but we're told that the tech isn't expected to be ready for "commercial deployment" until the "next few years." 'Course, we suspect we should be struck by the notion that the internet may actually have the proper infrastructure to keep on keepin' on once Hulu really does take over the world, but for now, we'll just have to extract a bit more joy from those vague "little things" in life.
AT&T completes 100-Gigabit Ethernet field trial using new Cisco gear, proves it does care originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 11:28:00
HTC Touch Pro 2 gets a new lease of Android life, loves it (video)
Android for Windows phones -- simple concept, simple enough installation, but awesome results. The good people behind the XDAndroid project have been working hard to allow you to get your Google juices flowing nice and freely on your WinMo device and the latest build looks to have all but completed the task. Demonstrated on a
Touch Pro 2 -- a phone that recently got itself
Ubuntu-ized -- the Android installation experiences no difficulty in making calls, sending SMS or email missives, or browsing the web. There are still limitations, mind you, with GPS, Bluetooth and "other key functions" not yet available, but for the most part you're looking at the full Android experience on devices that weren't initially meant for it. Check it out on video after the break or hit the source link for detailed instructions on how to load this up on your own phone.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading HTC Touch Pro 2 gets a new lease of Android life, loves it (video)
HTC Touch Pro 2 gets a new lease of Android life, loves it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 10:56:00
PRS Guitarbud jacks your axe, ego into iPhone / iPod touch
Whatever happened to that dreamy
Line 6 / Apple tie-up? Who knows, right? While those two sort out their future behind the scenes, Paul Reed Smith Guitars is stepping up to take advantage of an obvious market opportunity. The newly announced Guitarbud is a simplistic accessory that allows axe slingers to jack their guitar into an iPhone or second-generation iPod touch, all while providing a headphone output in order to keep the noise making to yourself. We're told that the device works with pretty much any recording-supported app (even Apple's own Voice Memos), though PRS obviously recommends that you check out its JamApp guitar amp simulator / tuner / training tool. Best of all, it's available today for £29.95 (or $29.95 here in the States), putting you just a few yard mowings away from securing your own personal aural sanctuary. Too bad the reviews from early adopters aren't so promising...
PRS Guitarbud jacks your axe, ego into iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 10:19:00
Verizon promises first 4G handset for next summer, foretells end of unlimited data plans
Alright, you ultrafast mobile broadband zealots, whip out your calendars and draw a big red tick around the middle of 2011. Verizon's CTO Anthony Melone has identified next summer as the carrier's release window for its first LTE handset, which should be preceded by the 4G service being rolled out by the end of this year. If you're wondering what you'll be using on that
"faster than 3G" network while waiting for the
vanguard handset, we saw plenty of
LTE-equipped gear at CES and let's not forget about that
1080p-decodin' NVIDIA tablet that was teased during the show. The one bit of bogus news from Melone was the statement that contracts with "as much data as you can consume is the big issue that has to change." Verizon seems resolutely set on introducing some type of tiered or metered price plans, which is unfortunately the same path
AT&T is headed down. The message from the networks is therefore clear: with great (downloading) power comes great (bill-paying) responsibility.
Verizon promises first 4G handset for next summer, foretells end of unlimited data plans originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 09:45:00
Nokia Symbian^3 UI demonstrated in detail, seeks multitouch devices (video)
Nokia VP, David Rivas, was in San Francisco yesterday touting Symbian^3 improvements. While we've
heard and
seen plenty about Symbian Three's enhanced user experience already, it's still worthy of another look considering Symbian's dominant marketshare. Besides, David provides a very detailed look as he walks us though elements like the customizable (and more finger friendly) homescreens meant to provide quick access to call features and at-a-glance data. Rivas also reiterates speed improvement claims over existing S60 5th devices (about a 3x improvement in graphics performance) that should "very very pleasantly surprise" users. Naturally, a faster UI coupled with a Symbian device running on something better than ARM 11 will also help here -- Nokia's only Cortex A8 device is the N900 running Maemo, not Symbian. David takes a veiled shot at Microsoft's new WP7 platform when discussing Symbian's true multitaking capabilities without any "tricks" -- apps are actually running in the background, not just freezing their state until you return. Multitouch screen control on capacitive
and resistive (
really?) touchscreen displays with Cover Flow-like album art navigation? Yup, it's all in there, as are hundreds of usability improvements (and fewer nags!) that should bring Symbian^3 up to the level of what everyone expects from a modern smartphone, according to Rivas. In other words, we'll have to wait for
S^4 on early 2011 devices to see any real innovation. While the live demo was run on a laptop, we suspect it won't be long until Nokia starts showing off its
live OS on a production handset. Until then, check the video after the break -- it's all we've got.
[Thanks, Rafael C.]
Continue reading Nokia Symbian^3 UI demonstrated in detail, seeks multitouch devices (video)
Nokia Symbian^3 UI demonstrated in detail, seeks multitouch devices (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 09:05:00
PrimeSense talks full-body motion control at GDC, gives us a video demonstration
PrimeSense was formed in 2005, and unless you're a sickly obsessed silicon junkie, you've probably never heard of them. All that changes today. We sat down with the company at
GDC to learn more about the chip that it produces, and we left with an imagination sore from being stretched so severely. Put simply, the company manufacturers a microchip that, when paired with off-the-shelf optics, can create a 3D grid that a computer can understand. The purpose here, as you can likely glean, is to enable
PlayStation Eye-like interactions, or as the company suggests, a "more natural" way to interface with devices you use every day. Rather than grabbing the remote to switch channels or snapping up that HTPC keyboard in order to flip through your stored DVD library, PrimeSense would rather you kick back on the sofa and gently flick your hands in order to turn to this week's
Gossip Girl or sort through those classic horror flicks.
It's important to remember that PrimeSense isn't in the business of creating hardware, but today we were shown a reference design that looks an awful lot like an enlarged webcam. The device is completely USB powered, and while the unit shown in the images and video here was obviously a standalone device, we were told that it would be possible to integrate the solution into displays and the like in the future. They also mentioned that the depth location -- which enables it to map out a room and detect your entire body -- was done on-chip, with only the associated middleware taxing the CPU. Still, they've had success running this on Atom-level processors, so there's certainly no big horsepower hang-up preventing it from hitting up a variety of markets.
More after the break...
Continue reading PrimeSense talks full-body motion control at GDC, gives us a video demonstration
PrimeSense talks full-body motion control at GDC, gives us a video demonstration originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 08:02:00
Intel's Core i7-980X Extreme Edition 'Gulftown' review roundup
Six cores. Twelve threads. A new flagship processor in Intel's stable. Here at
GDC in San Francisco, the world's most widely recognized chip maker is dishing out its
latest desktop CPU, and to say it's a niche device would be greatly understating things. We spoke to a number of Intel bigwigs at tonight's media event, and everyone confessed that the Core i7-980X Extreme Edition was a low quantity, high performance device aimed specifically at gamers and content editors that simply refuse to live anywhere other than on the cutting edge. Intel's planning on selling these in retail, standalone form for $999 (MSRP), while they'll soon be available in a variety of gaming rigs from the likes of Dell, Alienware and whoever else wishes to keep with the times. As for Apple? The company stated that Steve and Company "sort of call their own shots," and that we'd have to dig at Apple if we really wanted to know what their refreshed Mac Pro would hold. We chuckled, nodded in understanding, and then learned that this here slab of silicon is a bit ahead of the software out there, with Intel noting that only games optimized for 12-thread use and benchmarking utilities that did likewise would really demonstrate the performance boost. 'Course, anyone who spends a great deal of time multitasking will appreciate the extra headroom, and power users can always find ways to make use of more horsepower. Oh, and for what it's worth, the company stated that this will be its lead desktop chip for some time to come, and if you're looking for a mobile version in the near future, you can keep dreaming.
As for the critics? Just about everyone with a benchmarking license managed to get one of these in-house, and everyone seems to feel (mostly) the same way. There's no denying that this is Intel's speediest consumer chip ever, but you won't find 50 percent boosts just anywhere.
Yet. When the software catches up, though, there's no doubt that this chip will make even the other Core i7s look downright sluggish. 50 percent more cores and 50 percent more threads than the prior kings of the line leads to fantastic gains when serious number crunching is involved (audio and video editors, we're staring at you), with some tests showing upticks in the 30 to 50 percent range. As a bonus, the power consumption here is also extremely reasonable, with the shift to 32nm enabling it to even use
less power in some circumstances when compared to the
Core i7-975 Extreme Edition. Dig into the glut of reviews below if you've got a cool grand with "chip upgrade" written on it -- you'll be glad you did.
Read - Hot Hardware
Read - AnandTech
Read - Techgage
Read - Computer Shopper
Read - Bit-Tech
Read - PC Perspective
Read - Neoseeker
Read - Hardcoreware
Read - TweakTown
Read - PC World
Read - TechReport
Read - Benchmark Reviews
Read - Hardware Canucks
Read - Overclockers Club
Intel's Core i7-980X Extreme Edition 'Gulftown' review roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 06:06:00
HTML5 vs. Flash comparison finds a few surprises, settles few debates
Think we'd all be better off if HTML5 could somehow instantly replace Flash overnight? Not necessarily, according to a set of comparisons from Jan Ozer of the Streaming Learning Center website, which found that while HTML5 did come out ahead in many respects, it wasn't exactly a clear winner. The tests weren't completely scientific, but they did find that HTML5 clearly performed better than Flash 10 or 10.1 in Safari on a Mac, although the differences were less clear cut in Google Chrome or Firefox. On the other hand, Flash more than held its own on Windows, and Flash Player 10.1 was actually 58% more efficient than HTML5 in Google Chrome on the Windows system tested. As you may have deduced, one of the big factors accounting for that discrepancy is that Flash is able to take advantage of GPU hardware acceleration in Windows, while Adobe is effectively cut out of the loop on Mac -- something it has complained about quite publicly. According to Ozer, the differences between HTML5 and Flash playback on a Mac could be virtually eliminated if Flash could make use of GPU acceleration. Hit up the link below for all the numbers.
HTML5 vs. Flash comparison finds a few surprises, settles few debates originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 05:36:00
Pioneer DJM-2000 digital mixer sports multitouch screen, per-frequency mixing delight
Ready to graduate from
DJ Hero? Got a house payment handy? Then Pioneer would like to show you the way to the pros. Say hello to the DJM-2000, a four-channel digital
mixer built around a 5.8-inch multitouch screen and sporting enough knobs, buttons and sliders for a NASA launch sequence. Designed to play nice with the
matching CDJ-2000 players Pioneer released last year, the unit features an integrated audio effects suite with six dedicated processors and several intriguing modes for multitouch music control. While the mixer has the traditional crossfade slider that allows DJs to assign a certain percentage of the output to channels on the left and right, the DJM-2000 debuts with "frequency mix," a mode that lets DJs assign within seven narrow frequency bands as well by manipulating virtual sliders on the touchscreen, and a "sidechain remix" mode that uses the screen to apply custom effects in real time. Yeah, it's not as wild as
some other touchscreen DJ rigs we've seen, but at least this one's for sale: Pioneer says the mixer will retail for $3000 this June. Droolworthy video demonstrations after the break.
Continue reading Pioneer DJM-2000 digital mixer sports multitouch screen, per-frequency mixing delight
Pioneer DJM-2000 digital mixer sports multitouch screen, per-frequency mixing delight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-03-2010 04:32:00
