Reality Bites
IDC Research is expecting 1.5 million tablets will be sold in Canada by the end of 2011. There is no insight into the sales from each manufacturer but everyone will be dropping at least one new tablet this year: Apple with the iPad 2, Samsung with the Galaxy Tab 8.9 & 10.1, Motorola with the […]
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Upending a theory of physics maintained for over a century, researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered that magnetic fields coming from light waves are 100 million times stronger than previously believed, creating new possibilities for harvesting solar power. More »
It was not long ago that an early build of Windows 8 leaked to the Internet. While that build was a bit dated, there now appears to be users who have build 7955 in their hands. While the build has not fully leaked, it is clear that users outside of…
After taking a breather from cranking out new tablets, Archos is at it again, this time with the Archos 7c Home Tablet, a 7-inch number that ARMdevices.net caught on camera during a visit to the company’s Chinese outpost. This slate packs a Cortex A8 processor and RK2918 chipset, which the rep quaintly says is “faster than any chipset you can find” — you know, owing to its 1.2GHz clock speed and all. Alas, it runs Android Gingerbread (2.3) and not Honeycomb (3.0), so you’ll have to do some hacking to get your Android Market fix. Although the 7c has a capacitive display, the woman leading the demo appears to jab at browser links with her finger — a throwback to some less-than-responsive resistive screens we’ve tested. On the bright side, 1080p video plays smoothly — at least in the few seconds before the camera pans away. The 7c is headed to the US and Europe in June for an unknown price, but for now you can head past the break to see it in action.
Continue reading Archos flashes 7c Android tablet, brags about its 1.2GHz clock speed
Archos flashes 7c Android tablet, brags about its 1.2GHz clock speed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by Jiří Semecký, Software Engineer
Themes in Gmail are great — there are tons to choose from and they give your inbox a personalized look. But we’ve heard from many of you who thought it would be even better if you could give Gmail an even more personalized look and create themes completely on your own.
For a while, you’ve been able to set your own colors, and starting today you can customize your inbox with your own background image too.
Just go to the Themes tab in Settings and choose “Create your own theme.” There, you can select background images for the main area and the footer.
The next time you hit the Netflix app on your Xbox 360 the update we heard about at CES will be waiting, bringing Kinect owners the ability to flick through their videos (like ESPN3 and Zune have since the peripheral launched) without digging a controller out of the couch cushions. After the 43Mb update downloads waving ones hand for the camera or saying Xbox will pull up the new menu seen above, which auto sorts selections for browsing by voice or gesture based on what it thinks you may want to watch next. Selecting “browse all” brings you right back to the standard menu and is probably the method most will want to stick with, however being able to pause the movie quickly during playback by simply saying Xbox, Pause (or FF, rewind, skip scene, etc.) is quite convenient. Not near your Xbox? Check out a brief video of it in action after the break.
[Thanks, George]
Continue reading Netflix for Xbox 360 updated with Kinect support, everybody wave!
Netflix for Xbox 360 updated with Kinect support, everybody wave! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We’ve seen a rather creepy array of robots programmed to mimic human emotions, but teaching a machine to feel regret? Now, that’s a new one. With funding from Google, a team of Tel Aviv University researchers is working on an algorithm to teach computers to learn from their experiences, thus reducing instances of “virtual regret.” According to the team’s lead, such an algorithm would allow servers and routing systems to more efficiently deal with internet traffic, by recognizing and documenting things like sudden spikes in traffic or increased attention to an online product. Basically, the more they learn from their past inadequacies, the more effectual the machines become. Google’s apparently interested in the potential impact on programs like AdSense and AdWords. Now, if they could just teach online advertisers a sense of shame… Full PR after the break.
Google funds project to teach computers regret, sadly won’t lead to apologetic machines originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 02:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The words “play” and “book” are a bit of an odd choice for RIM’s latest attempt at consumer relevance, a tablet that, at its core, runs one of the most hardcore and industry-friendly operating systems known to man. The OS is QNX and the hardware is, of course, the BlackBerry PlayBook. It’s an enterprise-friendly offering that’s also out to conquer the consumer tablet ecosphere, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the BlackBerry handsets that have filled the pockets of corporate executives and BBM addicts around the globe.
It’s something of a serious tablet when compared to the competition running software from Apple and Google and, while it certainly has games, its biggest strengths are rather more boring. It does a really great job at displaying PowerPoint presentations, for example, and has the security chops to keep last quarter’s dismal sales figures from falling into the wrong hands. Exciting stuff? No, but useful features for sure, and regardless of whether you find those intriguing or boring this is RIM’s seven-inch, Flash-having but 3G-lacking tablet clad in an unassuming but extremely sophisticated exterior. It’s what’s running behind the glass that disappoints.
Gallery: RIM BlackBerry PlayBook
Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook review
BlackBerry PlayBook review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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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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