Caption Contest: Steve Ballmer goes on kill-crazy rampage at Microsoft Store
November 19, 2010 No Comment
In the photo above you see Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer performing a ribbon cutting at the company’s new store in Bellevue, Washington. Shortly after finishing with the ribbon, Ballmer proceeded to rampage the store and patrons, leaving 17 dead, 6 wounded, and a stunned Miley Cyrus wondering if she had made the wisest career decisions. Ballmer was finally subdued by Dave Matthews, who knocked the CEO unconscious with an 8-foot bong. Josh: “I’m a PC, and I’m going to mess up your insides so bad, you’ll pray for death.” Ben Bowers: “Anyone else want to claim Windows 7 was their idea?” Chris: “To the cloud! With Windows 7 and Windows Live, Microsoft can mix and match its CEO’s best faces until it’s able to piece together a photo it’s proud to share.” Ross: “Using the power of Control-X while mobile is just one of the many superpowers Ballmer has and Windows Phone 7 users don’t.” Darren: “Moments before this tremendous occasion, Ballmer begrudgingly confirmed a prompt questioning his true intentions to dismantle a red ribbon.” Nilay: “Touch my junk and I’ll have you arrested.” Don: “There can only be one!” Vlad: “I love this company! I love it so much I’m gonna cut it up into little pieces and eat it!” Joe: “Clearly event organizers hadn’t planned for every possible emergency.” Thomas: “Baby Ballmer cuts his own cord thankyouverymuch.” Myriam: “Developers! It’s time to get cut and paste into Windows Phone 7…” [ Image Credit ] Continue reading Caption Contest: Steve Ballmer goes on kill-crazy rampage at Microsoft Store Caption Contest: Steve Ballmer goes on kill-crazy rampage at Microsoft Store originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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No Android Market ? No problem! The 10-inch Advent Vega tablet, famously boasting NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset, just went on sale across the pond earlier today, and after a matter of hours, the
Continue reading …Honda shows off Fit EV concept at LA Auto Show, we hope to see it again
November 19, 2010 No Comment
The Fit is a well regarded car here at Engadget HQ, models finding their ways into the garages and parking lots of three separate staffers, all of whom are now saying things like “ooooh” and “shiny” while looking at the lovely blue model Honda brought along to show off at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It’s just a concept at this point, delivering the current standard 100 miles of range while managing a 90mph top speed, more or less matching the Nissan Leaf we recently sampled and inspiring us all to call our electricians for quotes on quick-charger installs. Sadly we have plenty of time to save up for those, with the Fit EV not hitting production until sometime in 2012, and Honda not making any promises about US availability. To that we say “boo.” Honda shows off Fit EV concept at LA Auto Show, we hope to see it again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Toyota debuts 100 mile Tesla-powered RAV4 EV, Musk says it ‘helps us with the Model S’
November 19, 2010 No Comment
Toyota and Tesla have been spotted holding hands behind the school gym on numerous occasions and now, finally, the result of their long hours working together in the craft room are being shown to the world. It’s the RAV4 EV, announced earlier this year and finally unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Current pre-production models are delivering 100 miles per charge but apparently still need some climate-proofing to ensure that the 2012 version will hit that range regardless of conditions. That’s a big deal for a big SUV, and of course it’s a big deal for Tesla, which is providing the powertrain. It’s also a good news for Elon Musk, surely injecting some much-needed funding to the company and, as he says, introducing other benefits as well: We’re giving Toyota a window into the entrepreneurial, Silicon Valley culture and, vice versa, we’re getting a sense for the Toyota production system… I think we’re learning a lot form Toyota, bidirectionally, in this process and I think that helps us with the Model S. Having access to Lexus components in the supply chain is also helpful. In other words, expect the production Model S interior to be a little less fanciful and a little more familiar. Toyota debuts 100 mile Tesla-powered RAV4 EV, Musk says it ‘helps us with the Model S’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …MIT’s laser camera can photograph around corners, render your camouflage useless
November 19, 2010 No Comment
You know, we’d love to meet this Ramesh Raskar character. Possibly even shake his hand, or secretly become injected with a pinch of his DNA. You see, he’s devoted his life to proving that the impossible is actually possible , first conjuring up a 6D “super-realistic” image system just over two years ago. Now, he’s onto bigger and better things… things like cameras that can see around corners. Granted, this concept isn’t exactly a new one — LIDAR-equipped robots have been discovering hidden objects for years, but the mere thought of cramming this technology into a camera has us salivating. Auntie Beeb has a new piece up on the technology, and it actually does an exceptional job of explaining the technobabble. Put simply, the created prototype utilizes an ultra-short, highly intense burst of laser light (a femotosecond laser , if you have to know) to light up a scene; from there, it bends around corners and bounces back, using algorithms to figure out what’s inside of the room based on the bounce points. We’re guessing it’ll still be a few decades before this gets wrapped into a mid-range DSLR, but we’re cautiously hoping for a working mockup at CES 2015. Seriously, we just marked it down. Don’t disappoint us, guys. MIT’s laser camera can photograph around corners, render your camouflage useless originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Panasonic Lumix GF2 reviewed: smaller, simpler, and arguably better than the GF1
November 19, 2010 No Comment
Panasonic’s DMC-GF1 proved itself as a tasty go-between, filling the gap between high-end compact and DSLR . The GF2 will soon arrive and, according to Photography Blog , if anything it slots in a little closer to the compact side of things thanks to a new user interface that ditches many buttons and dials in favor of touchscreen menus. This will drive some users mad, but ultimately the up-rated features here still make this a worthy choice over the GF1, including video recording at 1080i60 and a new body that’s a fifth smaller and seven percent lighter than before despite still containing a pop-up flash, 12.1 megapixel sensor, and image quality that’s about as good as you’re going to get out of a shooter this size. Panasonic Lumix GF2 reviewed: smaller, simpler, and arguably better than the GF1 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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At this point we’re completely amused that the Droid 2 Global has managed to leak out , get advertised , go on sale , and even arrive in customers’ hands without so much as a PR peep from Verizon, so we leapt at the chance to get a quick hands-on with it last night here in NYC. Nothing here you wouldn’t really expect, and we weren’t able to run any performance tests on the speedbumped 1.2GHz processor, but we were able to solve the mystery of that camera bulge : turns out the Droid 2 Global is a hair thinner than the standard Droid 2, and the bulge pops out just enough to make up the difference. It’s not dramatic, by any means — if we hadn’t been looking, we probably wouldn’t have noticed. Oh, and it’s definitely running Blur on top of Android 2.2, so you know, that’s “awesome.” Anyway, at the rate we’re going we’ll have a full review up and this thing will be discontinued before Verizon ever formally acknowledges it, so hit the gallery for a quick hands-on with The Droid That Doesn’t… Exist. Gallery: Motorola Droid 2 Global hands-on Motorola Droid 2 Global hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Ask any motorsport enthusiast and they’ll tell you that there’s just something about the way a carbon fiber weave ripples in the sunlight that makes them want to cover every surface of their vehicles with the stuff. It looks like Apple engineer Kevin M. Kenney shares a similar passion, applying for a patent called simply “Reinforced Device Housing” that describes a way for various weaves to be backed by carbon “spine” to provide greater torsional rigidity — to keep you from twisting it and cracking an LCD. It’s hard to deny the images attached to the application look an awful lot like an iPad , but the patent text is rather more broad: Embodiments may house any number of electronic components. For example, certain embodiments may be used to form the exterior surface of a mobile telephone, a laptop or notebook computer, a tablet computing device, a desktop computer, a television, a stereo receiver, or practically any other electronic device. Even sporks and shipping containers are mentioned! We’ve certainly seen the stuff in some pretty interesting places in the past, and now can’t wait to see where it shows up next. Gallery: Apple ‘Reinforced Device Housing’ patent Apple patent may mean future unibodies get woven from carbon fiber originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Philadelphia Eagles going self-sufficient on stadium energy from 2011, 30 percent of it renewable
November 19, 2010 No Comment
Let’s skip right past the cringe-worthy “Declaration of Energy Independence” slogan and look at what the Eagles are actually doing with their pro sports venue. The franchise that dresses in midnight green is aiming to smarten up its eco-green credentials with a new partnership with SolarBlue that will provide all of the Eagles’ stadium energy needs for the next 20 years, after which point the team will be free to resell any surplus electricity back to the grid. 15 percent of the total output with be generated with spiral wind turbines erected around the top rim of Lincoln Financial Field, another 15 will come from 2,500 solar panels to be installed near the stadium, and the rest will be obtained from a biodiesel / natural gas plant. So it’s not all renewable, but a nice step in the right direction, nonetheless. Philadelphia Eagles going self-sufficient on stadium energy from 2011, 30 percent of it renewable originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Cox enters wireless market with ‘Unbelievably Fair’ contracts, offers first US quadruple play
November 19, 2010 No Comment
We’ve been hearing about Cox’s intention to make a splash in the wireless space for a good long while , but today the cable company’s finally made that move official. The venture will start off with three markets — Hampton Roads, VA, Omaha, NE, and Orange County, CA — and the big selling points will include MoneyBack Minutes, which gives you cash back for disused minutes, and free usage alerts to help you avoid gnarly overage charges. Bloomberg reports that service will be provided using Sprint’s 3G airwaves for now, with Cox building out its own network for the future. Tie-ins with the company’s other services include DVR-controlling software coming preinstalled on handsets, along with one free upgrade (such as a free premium channel like HBO) if you’re already using any of Cox’s landline, internet or cable services. We can’t say that sounds like a bad deal, and the phone selection includes the HTC Desire at $70 on a two-year contract. Skip past the break for the full PR. Continue reading Cox enters wireless market with ‘Unbelievably Fair’ contracts, offers first US quadruple play Cox enters wireless market with ‘Unbelievably Fair’ contracts, offers first US quadruple play originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 07:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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