Reality Bites
Black holes have a well-deserved reputation for being cosmic destroyers, ripping apart anything that comes into contact with their intense gravitational forces. But a radical new theory says advanced intelligent life could live on planets inside black holes. More »
That delay apparently won’t affect the US launch, though — at least not to any significant degree. According to the upstart website JoannaStern.com, the Transformer will be hitting the US by the end of this month with a price tag of $399, while the keyboard dock will run you $149. Could we possibly be seeing the beginnings of a tablet price war? Here’s hoping.
[Thanks, James A]
ASUS apologizes for Eee Pad Transformer delay it won’t detail, US launch pegged for end of April originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by Assaf Ben-David, Software Engineering Intern, Israel
“Don’t forget Bob” and “Got the wrong Bob?” are two Gmail Labs features that help prevent you from making two common mistakes: forgetting to include someone on an email, and sending a message to the wrong person with a similar name to the person you meant to email — like emailing Bob (your boss) instead of Bob (your friend).
We’ve received quite a bit of positive feedback from people who avoided some embarrassing situations thanks to these features. And today, we’re excited to graduate them from Gmail Labs and start turning them on for everyone (they should start working in all Gmail accounts over the next day or so). Once that happens, as you type in your recipients, Gmail will automatically make suggestions based on the groups of people you email most often. When you see a suggestion to add a person you’ve forgotten, all you have to do is click on their name to add them.
Similarly, if you click on a suggestion to replace a mistakenly added recipient, the proverbial “wrong Bob” will be replaced by the right one.
We hope these suggestions help you avoid some sticky situations — before you hit send. As you compose messages and see these features in actions, let us know what you think by tweeting @gmail with your ideas and impressions or leaving a message in the Gmail Help forum.
Windows: If you've ever wanted to work with multiple tabs at a time (like moving or pinning them), Chrome's Dev channel has just added a feature that lets you select multiple tabs by domain, from where you opened them—and you can do really cool things with them from there. More »
Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Microsoft’s Kinect navigates the universe thanks to Windows SDK (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Self-encrypting drives are hardly new, but that doesn’t mean researchers aren’t still looking for ways to give those IT folks behind the curtain more ways to lock down sensitive intel. Toshiba just launched a line of self-encrypting HDDs that will “invalidate” the data — essentially, rendering it useless — when the laptop connects to an unknown host. IT departments can also use Toshiba’s so-called Wipe Technology to scrub a machine before tossing it, or encrypt the drives every time someone powers down. The company won’t be peddling these directly to consumers, of course, and in fact, Tosh is planning on shopping them around not just for laptops, but multifunction printers and point-of-sale systems, too. They’ll come in five sizes, ranging from 160GB to 640GB, and will all run at 7,200RPM. And Tosh says it’ll work with OEMs to help them customize the conditions that will trigger a data lockup. It’s too soon to say what laptops will pack this technology, though the company is clearly moving quickly — it’ll start showing off samples this month and will ramp up mass production by late June.
Continue reading Toshiba’s Wipe HDDs render data useless when you get online in a strange place
Toshiba’s Wipe HDDs render data useless when you get online in a strange place originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We’ve been keeping our eyes on Motorola’s plans to sink its claws into the enterprise market for at least the past couple of months, and it looks like the company is ramping up its efforts with a rugged Android tablet fit for the workplace. A presentation provided to us by a helpful tipster outlines Moto’s plans to be the “first physical embodiment defining Android for the Enterprise,” with a Gingerbread-equipped tablet entering beta testing this October. As you can see from the slide above, the slate will sport both a 1.3MP front-facing camera and an 8MP rear-facing camera “with illumination and aiming” for barcode scanning. It’s also carrying a dual-core 1GHz OMAP 4 CPU, 1GB RAM, 8GB NAND, a 7-inch LCD display, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, and USB connectivity. It should also pack enough juice to supply five and a half hours of streaming video, and should be able to withstand a four foot drop, extreme temperatures, excessive dust, and splashing water. From the look of things, this tablet’s going to be more at home in the workshop than the boardroom, but we’ll just have to wait and see what becomes of it once the thing makes it out of beta.
[Thanks, Anonymous]
Motorola to begin beta testing rugged Android tablet, steps up enterprise efforts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Storm 3? Torch 9860? Touch 9860? Monza? Monaco? The latest all-touchscreen BlackBerry has more names than RIM has leaks, as evidenced by this hands-on video out of Thailand. We’re not sure what the handler’s impressions are of the, as yet, unannounced device (but if you speak Thai, please, feel free to enlighten us in the comments). It seems that 1.2GHz Snapdragon delivers some snappy performance, at least. It’s tough to tell, thanks to predictably out of focus camera work, but it also appears that the Torch 9860 (we’re sticking with that for now) is using Comic Sans. We hope that’s not by default. Vid’s after the break, per usual.
Update: A reader pointed us to another video (after the break) of the Torch 9860 in action. Nothing new to reveal, but the quality is much better — and not a trace of Comic Sans in sight!
[Thanks, Khalifa]
Continue reading RIM’s BlackBerry Torch 9860 makes blurry video debut
RIM’s BlackBerry Torch 9860 makes blurry video debut originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sure, a lack of first-party tools never kept you from bending the Kinect to your diabolical whim, but Microsoft’s taking some time out at MIX 11 to talk about the official Kinect SDK for Windows and show off a few demos. Mind you, all of that’s going to happen on stage over the course of the next hour, so we don’t have many details for you right now, but Redmond says devs will have access to not only the basic color and infrared depth cameras, but “robust skeletal tracking” of two simultaneous individuals as well, and perhaps most excitingly, full access to the Kinect’s array of four microphones for noise canceling and voice recognition complete with API support. Hate to say it, Kinect hackers, but the bar’s about to be bumped up. Keep it locked right here and we’ll let you know if the Microsofties reveal anything else fun!
Update: Yep, we’re getting some Kinect SDK details now — Microsoft says you’ll be able to write Kinect apps for PC in Visual Basic, C#, and C++, and they’re showing off basic coding now… with just a few minutes of work in Visual Studio, they had a program that could draw lines using the wave of a hand.
Update 2: Okay, we just saw some straight-up Minority Report fun here — a guided astronomical tour of the universe controlled by Kinect, and a motorized lounge chair! Connection permitting, we’ll have video up soon.
Microsoft details Kinect SDK for Windows PC, promises ‘robust skeletal tracking’ (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Don’t be fooled by the “concept” label that ABB has affixed to its new robot. There can be only one logical conclusion to this endeavor: FRIDA and its ilk will one day replace the millions of young Chinese workers assembling our gadgets. It’s no coincidence that this uniquely agile, dual-arm robot is compact enough to “fit into spaces ergonomically designed for human workers” and can be carried around “easily” to begin work with a minimum of installation requirements. In fact, ABB admits that several prototypes are already being piloted. The obvious advantage for Foxconn and friends is that FRIDA doesn’t require a swimming pool, cafeteria, housing, or professional counseling to keep out of the dormitory nets. Watch FRIDA obey the first law of robotics at the 44 second mark of the video posted after the break as assembly line workers everywhere lament their lack of a handle.
[Thanks, Johannes]
FRIDA ‘concept’ robot will solve all of Foxconn’s problems by replacing its workers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by David Tattersall, Product Manager
On April 13th, 2006 we released Google Calendar to the world. What started as an experimental project by several Googlers has grown to become a service that millions of people rely on every day. From photography studios to schools to airlines to supermarkets, we discover new ways people are using Calendar all the time.
A birthday wouldn’t be a birthday without a little present, so today we’re happy to announce our latest tiny addition: the up-to-date favicon. When you look at the Google Calendar icon at the top of your browser window, it will no longer always display “31” but will instead change to reflect the current day of the month. Today’s date is now always a short glance away.
If you don’t see the new up-to-date favicon already, you should within the next couple of days. To keep up-to-date on all things Google Calendar, check out our Twitter account (and feel free to tell us how you’re using Calendar too).
If your Android phone’s battery seems to have less zip in its step than it used to it may be in need of recalibration; BatteryCalibration revitalizes the battery on rooted Android phones.
Download the app, run it, and let your battery reach a full charge. The application kills your old battery stats file, replaces it with a fresh one, and ensures that a poorly calibrated stats file or a leftover one from a prior ROM doesn’t muck up your battery life. Hit up the link below to read more and grab a free copy. Battery Calibration is for rooted Android 2.1+ devices.
Battery Calibration [AppBrain via Addictive Tips]
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A new study has found most Canadians think the internet is their best source for news, but they would not be willing to pay up if websites started charging them to read their stories online.
Dual 14-inch touchscreens not big enough? 21-inches of touch sensitivity still failing to sate your fingers’ need to roam wild and free? Maybe the 23-inch behemoth of a tablet that Lenovo is planning on unleashing this year will make those digits dance with delight. The plan is, apparently, to take one of the company’s Windows-powered all-in-one machines, delete the stand, put it on a crash diet, slap a big ‘ol battery on there, and then watch the eyes of pixel junkies around the world light up with glee. William Cai from Lenovo said “It’s obviously not for full mobility use, but it could be moved from room to room in the house… you could lay it on a table top and use it for family games.” Never mind that — with the addition of just a few legs this 23-inch slab could be a table.
Lenovo hoping to launch 23-inch tablet this year, your lap may never be the same originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You don’t have to be a coder to appreciate the wonders that a software development kit can contain, especially when there’s a nice emulator tucked in there to give an early taste of things to come. That’s exactly what can be found within the webOS 3.0 SDK, and that SDK is exactly what’s been leaked to the world, giving anyone who wants it the ability to play with the OS that’ll make the HP TouchPad tick. PreCentral.net took the emulator within for a heck of a test drive, providing a lengthy textual overview of everything from keyboards to calendars, along with the video that’s embedded below. Sure, clicking and dragging in an early emulator isn’t nearly as much fun as tapping and swiping on some beautiful hardware, but it sure does cut down on the smudgy fingerprints. It’s cheaper, too.
Continue reading Beta 1 for webOS 3.0 leaks, lets you touch the TouchPad a little early (video)
Beta 1 for webOS 3.0 leaks, lets you touch the TouchPad a little early (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Intel has just announced it will soon be making development kits available for its new Thunderbolt interconnect. The cable that can carry 10Gbps (in both directions!) has so far only seen itself installed in Apple’s MacBook Pro computers, but storage and other peripheral manufacturers are starting to unveil their lightning-scorched offerings this week at NAB and this announcement is sure to give Thunderbolt an extra spur of momentum. What’s going to be intriguing going forward is to see whether manufacturers take it up instead of USB 3.0 or install the DisplayPort lookalike alongside the latest and greatest from the USB camp. If you ask us, we can never have enough high-speed interconnects… how does SuperSpeed Thunderbolt sound?
Intel Thunderbolt dev kits coming this quarter, hopefully ushering in more 10Gbps-capable devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dropbox is a popular tool used to sync files between multiple computers and devices that a user owns. A user installs the software, designates a folder to keep syncronized, and is able to access those files among other machines that they own. The tool was even picked as one of…
In his recent newsletter, financial planner Kurt Rosentreter explains why 30-year old Canadians are, financially speaking, screwed. One reason for the dismal outlook is simply the way things are today what with traditional pensions disappearing and home prices as high as they are. But the main reason, according to Mr. Rosentreter, is the way today’s 30-year olds are playing the hand they are dealt: being totally clueless when it comes to spending, taking on monster debt loads at today’s low, low interest rates and saving little or nothing despite not having a pension.
Today’s 50 year old will make it – they are the last generation to get in before the big mortgages hit and they may still get inheritances from their financially responsible, recession era parents who will die in the next 20 years, providing money for their retirement thankfully. It’s today’s 30 year olds who will be 50 in twenty years that are screwed. With little hope of being debt free in 20 years, with a bad attitude towards savings and debt elimination, with rising costs of children’s education, no pensions coming, frequent career change, wild stock markets, record low interest rates and longer and longer life with rising health care costs, today’s 30 year olds need to win the lotto to have a hope of achieving their financial retirement as culturally expected in Canada. Working to age 70, albeit part time, may become the norm for many in the next twenty years.
I would add one more point to Mr. Rosentreter’s list on why 30-year olds are screwed. The effect of retiring Baby Boomers on public finances is going to be akin to a swarm of locusts moving through a field of crops. Today’s retirees can count on receiving benefits from Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan. 30-year olds have no such assurance and may find that they are left to fend for themselves.
Related Reading:
Why 30-year olds are screwed? is brought to you by Canadian Capitalist — Helping you to invest & prosper.
Nintendo’s miniature white monolith has sold like gangbusters for long enough that we’re wary it’ll ever get cheap, but a trusted source tells us a price cut is indeed headed our way — and that the Nintendo Wii will cost just $150 starting May 15th. The timing would make some sense, given how Nintendo’s profits have tanked for a while due to flagging hardware sales, and just last month Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime hinted that the Wii’s price might be a potential variable to change that in an interview with Gamasutra. Still, we’re not fully convinced that Nintendo would announce a price cut then, rather than, say, at the Electronics Entertainment Expo in June, and it’s not like the company to let this sort of announcement leak out. Still, if you find a shiny new copy of Mario Kart Wii in a $150 console bundle this time next month, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Nintendo cutting Wii price to $150 on May 15th? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Recently we featured a beautiful Cosmic Fringe theme for Windows 7 and today we have matching themes for Chrome and Iron to share with you.
The Shattering
Event Horizon
Beauty of Destruction
The Cosmos
These browser themes will make a nice addition to the Cosmic Fringe Theme for Windows 7 that we previously featured here on ETC.
[via VikiTech]
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