.::REALITYRECALL::.

DivX Inc, the company that owns the codec which made your early 2000s movie downloads look actually not too bad, is being acquired by Sonic Solutions, a content delivery company, for a reported $300 million. Sonic's been working in circular media like CDs and DVDs for years—they own the popular Roxio brand—but is now looking to the internet as the content delivery platform of the future. DivX, a current competitor of Sonic's, has been helping deliver video content to internet users, legally and otherwise, for years. More »









DivX – Sonic Solutions – DVD – Multimedia – MPEG

Hey — you know Microsoft’s Project Natal? Well we’ve just gotten an up close look at what appears to be the retail version (though it’s clearly marked a developer unit). We couldn’t storm the stage while Walt and Kara (and her son!) were showing it off, but no one seemed to mind that we took a load of these shots for your perusal. Check out gallery below for more pics!

Project Natal retail unit revealed at D8? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft certainly made a bit of splash at Computex with the introduction of Windows Embedded Compact 7, but it’s not necessarily the easiest thing to wrap your head around right off the bat (or say three times fast). Thankfully, Microsoft has now come through with a site that explains the new OS in detail (complete with videos), and a trial download that will let you get a sneak peek at it yourself. The short of it is that the OS is aimed at devices that don’t need or aren’t well suited to the full-fledged Windows 7 (or Windows Phone 7, for that matter) — like the Eee Pad pictured above — which, incidentally, seems to address one of the major concerns from folks like NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. That added simplicity also means that the OS won’t run regular Windows applications — it is a successor to Windows CE, after all — but Microsoft does at least promise a “streamlined developer experience.” That’s not to say the OS isn’t capable in its own right, though — it boasts a full-range of media playback capabilities (including MPEG-4 and HD video), built-in support for Silverlight for Windows Embedded and Flash 10.1, a customized version of Internet Explorer with full multitouch, support for Open GL ES 2.0, support for the latest ARM v7 architectures and, of course, “seamless” integration with Windows 7, to name just a few highlights. Still hungry for more details? Then hit up the source link for the complete rundown and Microsoft’s videos, and for all the information you need to download the preview release.

Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 explained, trial download now available originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD has been trying to crack their Fusion technology—combining a CPU and a powerful GPU in the same chip—for years now. Today, they showed off working Fusion chips in a demo that got Intel and Nvidia’s attention: More »









Advanced Micro Devices – Nvidia – AMD – Fusion – Graphics processing unit

Originally announced with a planned second half of 2010 launch, today Google has narrowed the launch of its Chrome OS to fall. This, according to Sundar Pichai, Google VP of product management speaking at Computex. By our calculation that is sometime between 22 September and 21 December in the northern hemisphere if you want to take the man literally… and you do, don’t you. Wonder if we’ll see a Chrome OS tablet launch at the same time?

Google: Chrome OS launching this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, Steve Jobs just dropped a little nugget of history on us during his chat with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the All Things D conference. When asked by Walt why they originally put their new OS on a phone and not a tablet, Steve said, “I’ll tell you a secret. It began with the tablet.” After working on the tablet OS which had a glass display and multitouch, another idea occurred to Jobs. “My God, I said, this would make a great phone … so we shelved the tablet and built the iPhone.” And there you have it.

Steve Jobs: iPhone OS ‘started on a tablet’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today, in a blog post from Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc over on the Windows Team Blog, Microsoft responded to the various claims that were circling the web last night, which asserted that Google was “ditching” Windows for Mac and Linux because it was too much of a “security effort”.  The blog…

The Saskatchewan government plans to contract out some CT services in the province to a private health provider to try to reduce wait times for the medical imaging procedure.

Firefox: Mozilla’s previously mentioned Weave project has been a great way to sync nearly everything about your Firefox setup between computers for awhile, despite its experimental label. The add-on has finally graduated from Mozilla Labs, though, renamed Firefox Sync and set to be packaged with future versions of Firefox. You can still get it as an add-on now, under the new name and complete with a few new features such as availability in 15 languages, a simpler setup, and one-click access to all your synced tabs. Plus, it’s built to be the perfect companion to the upcoming, previously mentioned Firefox Home, so you can keep your data synced between all your devices. More »









Weave – Firefox Home – Firefox – Firefox Sync – IPhone

TMZ is reporting that Charlie Sheen is going to plead no contest to misdemeanor assault and serve 30 days in…

Full story at The Live Feed

Given the increasing proliferation of video content online, the Federal Court of Appeal is being asked to rule whether internet service providers can be considered broadcasters and, hence, be subject to Canada’s Broadcast Act.

Quick Thought: I’m looking at the current crop of Windows powered tablets showcased at Computex (above is the MSI WindPad 100 featuring the WindTouch UI layer), as well as thinking about HP’s previous Slate efforts, and one glaring piece of the puzzle is missing: a consistent tablet UI layer for Windows 7 and/or Windows Embedded […]

Check out this video that the gang at Victoria’s Secret made to celebrate Rosie’s new role!

You’re really coming full circle at this year’s Computex, aren’t ya, Intel? It was at the Taipei show two years ago that Chipzilla introduced the first Atom netbooks, and though it’s taken awhile, the company is finally announcing dual-core Atom processors for the category (not to mention slightly changing its party line on the power of the sub-laptops). While the details on the speeds and feeds of the new Pine Trail N series CPUs are being kept under wraps for now, we’ve been told that they’ll support DDR3 RAM and provide comparable performance to the dual-core desktop Atom processors, yet still maintain similar battery life to current netbooks. Intel still plans to keep these Atom chips in 10-inch systems, and told us that users will see the speed benefits in multitasking and browsing, rather than in HD playback and gaming.

But netbooks aren’t only about to get faster, they’re also going to go on a serious diet. Intel also unveiled its new “Canoe Lake” innovation platform for netbooks, which is what’s behind that 14mm thick machine pictured above. The platform can support single- and dual-core Atom processors, but provides significant cooling to allow for 50 percent thinner systems. However, “Canoe Lake” is merely a reference guideline for other manufacturers to use, so there’s no telling what the machines that use this could end up looking like. The dual-core Atom for netbooks goes into production next week and should be shipping in netbooks before the holiday season. And as for that super thin laptop you’re inevitably still peering at? Intel expects its partners to use the platform and have products out by the end of this year. We don’t know about you, but the pictures below may keep us salivating until then.

Continue reading Intel boosts netbooks with dual-core Atom, slims ’em down with ‘Canoe Lake’

Intel boosts netbooks with dual-core Atom, slims ’em down with ‘Canoe Lake’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to a report in the Financial Times, Google is making a full-throated move away from Windows PCs for the company’s workforce. Apparently the big G is now giving staffers the option of a Mac or Linux rig as an alternative to a Windows computer. The FT article suggests that the move is spurred on by security concerns — some specifically related to a flurry of attacks against the company which emanated from China, a country Google has recently been at odds with over censorship. Although security could be at issue, some of the employees interviewed for the article seem to suggest the changes — which mean staffers require CIO approval for a Windows PC — might actually be geared towards bringing Chrome OS into the Googleplex full-throttle. “A lot of it is an effort to run things on Google product,” said one unnamed source, “They want to run things on Chrome.” Another employee is quoted as saying that, “Before the security, there was a directive by the company to try to run things on Google products. It was a long time coming.” Regardless of the reasoning behind the move, if Google is moving the company to Macs and Linux instead of the world’s most popular computing platform, it’s certainly notable. We’ve reached out to both Microsoft and Google for comment, and will update you if and when we have word.

Google said to be moving away from Windows internally, Mac and Linux systems on tap instead originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 22:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It took six decades, but a Saskatchewan production has finally won the top prize at the Yorkton Film Festival.

Apple’s latest smash hit is the iPad, selling two million iPads in less than 60 days (59 to be exact).  Apple originally sold 300k units in the first day and one million iPads in 28 days, after releasing in the United States.

The iPad went on sale internationally last week…