Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promises SF on December 28th
November 29, 2010 No Comment
Seems like Sprint wants to get every last lick of 4G coverage in before Verizon flips the switch on LTE — today, its joint venture with Clearwire is launching WiMAX in the City of Angels a day ahead of schedule . Lest you think Los Angeles is getting special treatment, five other cellular markets can now also get a taste of 5Mbps to 7Mbps download speeds, including Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and our nation’s capitol, Washington D.C. That brings the total number of regions where you’ll get some mileage out of that $10 surcharge up to 68, in case you’re keeping track. What’s next? If the press release after the break is correct, San Francisco will finally satisfy its need for speed on December 28th. Not that any of these locales haven’t been secretly enjoying 4G already , of course. Continue reading Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promises SF on December 28th Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promises SF on December 28th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Comcast internet down across parts of the eastern seaboard, fix on the way
November 29, 2010 No Comment
Twitter’s abuzz with angry Comcast customers tonight, as internet service is down in Boston and parts of the eastern United States, a situation the company’s since confirmed at its official Twitter account. Comcast’s calling it an unexpected outage and says that “engineers are finalizing the correction” as we speak, though it’s admittedly been a couple of hours since that tweet. Meanwhile, Twitter at large seems to have figured out it’s a Comcast DNS issue, and have had some luck switching to alternate servers like Google’s at 8.8.4.4. and 8.8.8.8. Let us know if those work in comments after the break! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Comcast internet down across parts of the eastern seaboard, fix on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …MIT developing smart adaptive LED lighting system to reduce energy use by up to 90 percent
November 29, 2010 No Comment
It’s very well that manufacturers are constantly pushing for more efficient LEDs , but we can do better than that: what if we could have an LED lighting system that pumps out just the right amount of juice to suit our changing environment? That’s exactly what the tree huggers at MIT are working on right now. Said adaptive system relies on a small box that not only acts as a position tracker, calibrator and sensor for the dimmable overhead LED fixtures, but also lets the user set the desired tone and light intensity for the room. In other words: no matter how sunny or cloudy it is outside, you’ll still be comfortably basking in the same steady shine in your room, while also saving up to 90 percent of energy. Our guess is that Philips — the project’s sponsor — will eventually release a product based on this technology, but for now, you can see the system in action after the break (from 1:07). Continue reading MIT developing smart adaptive LED lighting system to reduce energy use by up to 90 percent MIT developing smart adaptive LED lighting system to reduce energy use by up to 90 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sony fires barrage of touchscreen patent applications, only one points at new PSP
November 29, 2010 No Comment
Lawyers for Sony Computer Entertainment America must have been mighty busy last October, hatching the wild scheme that came to light this week — a series of eight intertwining patent applications all describing a single device with an intriguing touchscreen interface. Though it’s hard to tell what form the final device might take — the apps suggest sliders, clamshells and slates — a few distinct ideas bubble to the surface, and we’ll knock them out one by one. First, the inventors seem to be rather particular about having a touchpad that’s separate from the main screen — perhaps even on its back like the rumored PSP2 — and Sony’s trying to patent a way to manipulate objects through the screen as well. Second, there’s a lot of mumbo-jumbo about being able to “enhance” or “transform” the user interface in response to different forms of input, which seems to boil down to this: Sony’s trying to get some multitouch up in there, especially pinch-to-zoom. Last but not least, the company’s looking to cordon off a section of touchscreen buttons, including a ‘paste’ command, and patent a “prediction engine” that would dynamically change the onscreen layout based on your past behavior. If most of these ideas sound more at home in a new tablet computer rather than a gaming handheld, then great minds think alike. Still, SCEA is Sony’s gaming division — forlorn Linux computing aside — so consider us stumped for now. Sony fires barrage of touchscreen patent applications, only one points at new PSP originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. When Acer announced a slate of new devices at a New York press conference last week , the overarching message was simple — keyboards are as done as a Thanksgiving turkey. The company introduced an array of tablets, most of which were running Android, with sizes ranging from five- to ten-inches each. That’s almost as broad a lineup as Archos, which has dipped down to what most would consider digital audio player turf with a three-inch tablet (tablette?) and a precursor to what is sure to be a merciless barrage of tablets on the slate for CES. The single manifestation of a physical QWERTY text entry device was a keyboard dock designed for a 10-inch tablet running Windows. But as much as Acer’s tablet lineup seems poised to flounder in the coming sea of similarity, its Iconia laptop stood out, eschewing a keyboard for a second 14-inch touchscreen to match the main display. Unlike the dual 14-inch hinged Kno device discussed in columns prior , this one is clearly designed to be used in a landscape orientation, and unlike the 7-inch Toshiba Libretto , the Iconia is not being positioned as some kind of limited-edition experiment. If anything, Acer signaled that it would be the first in a series of products that would unfold over the next several years. Continue reading Switched On: Acer’s Iconic Keyboard Switched On: Acer’s Iconic Keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Inhabitat’s Week in Green: modernizing the US national grid, not to mention deserts and pyramids
November 28, 2010 No Comment
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green. This week at Inhabitat, we were thankful to be able to witness the long-awaited unveiling of the futuristic solar-powered Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi, and we also heard the exciting news that scientists are developing a project that could have us using the Sahara desert to supply 50% of the world’s energy by 2050 . We were also dazzled by the dynamic “dancing” facade of the Kiefer Technic showroom and this towering greenery-lined pyramid caught our eye with its modern take on ancient Mayan architecture. The world of green tech had a lot to be grateful for too as the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it would award $19 million to modernize the national grid and green transportation saw the first flight powered by jatropha-based biofuel . On a lighter note, this solar-powered wheelchair and its designer prepared to embark on a 200 mile journey to showcase its capabilities. For those of you on the hunt for Cyber Monday deals, don’t forget to check out our Green Gadget Gift Guide with our picks for the hottest eco-friendly tech out there. We also spotted this ingenious wood speaker system that amplifies music using the properties of the material it’s made of and needs no electricity at all. Inhabitat’s Week in Green: modernizing the US national grid, not to mention deserts and pyramids originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Thinking that the not-yet-announced Samsung GT-i9020T (a.k.a. Nexus S ) might be delayed due to a last minute addition of a dual-core processor, as recently seen in the seemingly similar i9100 ? Well, it’s looking like that possibility just got a lot less likely — the GT-i9020T has now turned up yet again at the FCC, with the only changes being a pair of new Bluetooth / WiFi and GPS antennas. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be any more changes, but it does give us a bit more confidence that a GT-i9020T model will actually be released… sometime. [Thanks, John M.] Samsung Nexus S reappears at the FCC with a pair of new antennas originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Can’t wait another minute for your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS to be carrier-unlocked once more? If and only if you’re already running the latest firmware, you can actually pilfer a bit of iPad code to pick the requisite locks — though there are some serious risks in doing so. The iPhone Dev Team has a new version of PwnageTool that uses the 6.15.00 baseband from iPad firmware 3.2.2, which which just so happens to run perfectly on the iPhone 3G and 3GS since both phones and tablets of that era use the same Infineon radio chip . If you know your way around an IPSW and regularly bench-press SHSH blobs, you can download all the software you need right now — but if you don’t, you might want to steer clear of the proceedings for the time being. We spoke about risks a moment ago, and in this case there are quite a few — like the inability to downgrade from baseband 6.15 or ever do a full restore again, and it’s fairly likely that Apple won’t look kindly on your warranty if they find you running iPad software. Them’s the breaks, kid. iPhone 3G, 3GS get iOS 4.2.1 unlock, using risky ultrasn0w workaround originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Samsung’s beautiful Super AMOLED panels are becoming more and more common in mobile devices, but they’re not as common as they could be if there were more of the things flying out of Samsung Mobile Display factories. Predictably that’s set to change in 2011, with SMD planning to fulfill its promise and bring another production facility online, while other competitors in Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore will ramp up their own AMOLED facilities in the coming year. Meanwhile, China is said to be working on its OLED supply chain as well, meaning those displays of the passive matrix variety will also be flying off of assembly lines soon. So, 2011 may still not be the year of a chicken in every pot, but it could be the year of glowy organic goo in every smartphone. AMOLED shortage to become a surplus in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video)
November 28, 2010 No Comment
If, like us, you’ve been waiting to see Kinect in control of a truly marquee game, your wait has now come to an end. The same fella that brought us the Kinect lightsaber has returned with a hack enabling eager nostalgics to enjoy a bout of Super Mario controlled only by their body contortions. OpenKinect was used to get the motion-sensing peripheral — originally intended exclusively for use with an Xbox 360 — to communicate with his PC, while a simple NES emulator took care of bringing the 25-year old plumber to life. The video awaits after the break. Continue reading Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video) Kinect used to control Super Mario on a PC, redefine convergence (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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