What’s that, the greatest Android tablet of the moment caught without its pants on again ? Oh, no, it’s just another iFixit special, tearing down a Samsung Galaxy Tab into its requisite bits, bobs, and a slab of Gorilla Glass . The removal of that pane turned out to be the trickiest part, requiring a lot of heat and a little “nervous prying” before it yielded. But, yield it did, and you can see the piece-by-piece teardown on the other end of the source link below. Samsung Galaxy Tab torn down, is indeed not full of stars originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …USC Institute for Creative Technologies gets new building to amp up its military VR work
November 12, 2010 No Comment
University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies has just moved into 72,000-square feet of shiny new facilities in Playa Vista, California — on the same grounds which once served as the headquarters for Howard Hughes’ aircraft company. Funded by the US Army to develop virtual reality technology, the ICT’s work is now found on 65 military sites across the country. Before your brain starts wandering towards thoughts of Call of Duty on military-grade steroids though, keep in mind that much of the institute’s innovations revolve around simulating surrogate interactions with so-called “virtual humans”. For example, thanks to advanced AI language programming, soldier patients projected on life size semi-transparent screens help teach doctors about treating combat trauma, while virtual Army personnel characters such as Sergeant Star can interact naturally with soldiers in leadership training exercises. Still, that shouldn’t imply ITC doesn’t dabble in good ole’ fashion combat simulation work. In fact, it’s currently running a training exercise on three military bases designed to prepare soldiers for an insurgent ambush within a highly-realistic virtual town reconstructed from satellite imagery. No, it may not sound as wild as robotic exoskeletons , flying Humvees or ultrasound-based mind control , but it does make your life on The Sims seem totally fake. To judge for yourself, check out the video overview on the next page. Continue reading USC Institute for Creative Technologies gets new building to amp up its military VR work USC Institute for Creative Technologies gets new building to amp up its military VR work originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Passengers on the ruined Carnival Splendor cruise shared some of their home videos of being trapped for days aboard a ship with no electricity, no hot foods and few working toilets. (Nov. 11)
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In the promo fluff for its future flop, CNN calls Kathleen Parker a “conservative” commentator. So what's a “conservative” in CNN's book?
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At the grand re-opening of a Verizon Plus store in Tampa today, Big Red was demoing its latest FiOS TV feature, Flex View. As announced , this feature lets you take your video on demand content with you on your PC as well as various other Verizon Wireless devices — no iOS support though as Apple doesn’t license its FairPlay and the Microsoft PlayReady DRM used doesn’t work on Apple’s products either. There are about 2,000 movies available for rent now, with a subset of them available for purchase. Currently they are all SD with stereo sound, but HD and discrete surround sound are planed for later versions. Unlike the FiOS VOD, you can download these shows from any internet connection and play them back on the go or at home — resume between devices is also in the coming-soon category. Overall the user interface looked good, but we did see lots of blocking artifacts that we just hope were a result of the in-store demo and not an indication of what customers can actually expect. The content is linked to your Verizon FiOS user ID, which means that purchased content can still be viewed even if you cancel your FiOS TV service. No word on if Verizon’s free VOD selection will ever become available, but we have to say we really like the idea of watching content on the go no matter how good our network connection isn’t. Gallery: Hands-on with FiOS Flex View Hands-on with FiOS Flex View originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Rachel Maddow Clings to Baathist Party Line That ‘Saddam Wasn’t Pursuing’ WMD
November 12, 2010 No Comment
Not to worry, Baghdad Bob, MSNBC's got your back. Criticizing former president George W. Bush's newly released memoir, “Decision Points,” Maddow said this on her cable show Monday night ( video below page break )
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We gotta say, the last time we were this excited about hardware hacking For The Greater Good was when people started using the Wiimote for all sorts of awesome projects . Kinect is naturally a lot more complicated, but there’s also a lot of potential here, and we can’t wait to see what people come up with. Florian Echtler took that open source driver and hooked the Kinect into his own multitouch UI “TISCH” software library (which actually supports the Wiimote as an input already, funny enough). The result is a bit of MS Surface -style multitouch picture shuffling and zooming, but it uses full body tracking instead of touchscreen input, of course. The self-effacing Florian had this to say in the video description: “I thought I’d get the mandatory picture-browsing stuff done so it’s out of the way and everybody can focus on more interesting things.” You’re still a hero in our book, man. Always a hero. Feeling left out on all these Kinect shenanigans because you’re rocking a Mac? Well, libfreenect has also now been ported over to OS X by Theo Watson (who sounds unenthused about his accomplishment in the video embedded after the break). Also: once you’re done admiring your IR-rendered visage on your shiny Apple-built hardware, scrounge yourself up a working Linux box. All the cool people are doing it. Continue reading Hacked Kinect taught to work as multitouch interface Hacked Kinect taught to work as multitouch interface originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We happen to like our existing Xbox 360 controller, squeaky triggers and all, and though we’re eagerly awaiting an improved D-pad it hadn’t really occurred to us that some might prefer an overhaul. N-Control, however, has done just that with this insane lever-filled shell, which wraps around the gamepad to provide simultaneous control over a host of inputs at once. The idea is that you’ll never need to take your thumbs off the analog sticks to swap weapons or reload, because you’ll just flick one of those weighted levers instead. You’ll also apparently gain a split-second advantage over opponents on the draw since the contraption constantly applies tension to each of the controller’s triggers, making them easier to press. For $60, the Avenger even comes with a tripod, which could be a good move on the company’s part — it looks like you might need one to hold the beast up. Video after the break. Continue reading N-Control Avenger gives your Xbox 360 controller hair triggers (video) N-Control Avenger gives your Xbox 360 controller hair triggers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Verizon FiOS Flex View shows off VOD across TV/PC/mobile screens, will stream your files in 2011
November 11, 2010 No Comment
Verizon’s showing off the full capabilities of its Flex View service, already available on a number of its mobile phones , which brings FiOS TV On Demand even when you’re away from the cable box. Up to five devices (all set-top boxes in the home collectively count as one device) can be authorized for viewing of any titles rented through VOD and can even be played offline on PCs running its Media Manager software or smartphones. The feature that allows users to keep personal content like music, video files and pictures synced across all three screens is due next year, but still no word on exactly when that live TV-to-iPad streaming will launch. Continue reading Verizon FiOS Flex View shows off VOD across TV/PC/mobile screens, will stream your files in 2011 Verizon FiOS Flex View shows off VOD across TV/PC/mobile screens, will stream your files in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If there was any doubt that video games weren’t mainstream entertainment, the latest first-person shooter has blown that uncertainty away.(Nov. 11)
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