Y’know, there are only so many pristine beaches and spectacular slopes one can see before terrestrial tourism becomes blas
Continue reading …Eton’s Soulra XL solar-powered iPod boombox will cost $300, now ready for your pre-orders
May 8, 2011 No Comment
Summer’s nearly here, the sun shining bright — wouldn’t you like to share your tunes with friends with friends while basking in the light? That’s what Eton’s counting on as it prepares to ship the Soulra XL, the solar-powered iPod boombox formerly known as the Soulra 2 . As we discovered at CES in January, its set of eight speakers get pretty loud, and Eton claims it charges twice as fast as its predecessor (five hours) thanks to a sizable monocrystal solar panel, and lasts five hours on a charge. It’ll juice your phone, too. All told, you’ll be schlepping around seven pounds and paying $300 for the privilege of completely cordless mobile sound. Sound like a deal to you? You’ll find Eton ready to shake your hand at our source link. Eton’s Soulra XL solar-powered iPod boombox will cost $300, now ready for your pre-orders originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 May 2011 05:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LG Optimus Black debuts in Europe ‘this month,’ rest of the world settles for dual-core crumbs
May 8, 2011 No Comment
LG told us to expect the ultra-slim Optimus Black handset globally in the first half of the year, and at least one continent will receive the device as planned — the company just announced that the 9.2mm thin smartphone with the 700 nit NOVA display will hit Europe this month, with launches planned for North America and Asia at unspecified times after that. Yes, there’ll be plenty of jealousy to go around, especially sometime in June — that’s when LG will allegedly unveil white and pink versions of the phone. Assuming, of course, that you’re willing to settle for a single-core 1GHz processor when confronted with the latest spec sheets . PR after the break. Continue reading LG Optimus Black debuts in Europe ‘this month,’ rest of the world settles for dual-core crumbs LG Optimus Black debuts in Europe ‘this month,’ rest of the world settles for dual-core crumbs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 May 2011 02:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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A new concept that fits nicely in the things-you-never-knew-you-wanted category is determined to make speed readers out of the visually impaired. Snail — deceptive name aside — uses a pressure-sensitive touch pad to read patterns in a Braille passage, then translates them to speech, speeding up the reading process and allowing users to record audio passages for later playback. The user places his / her thumb, in the obvious opening and glides the device over a line of Braille. The translated audio is then played back either through a built-in speaker or over a connected Bluetooth headset. Snail was made with the blind in mind, but considering we’ve always been curious about what resides in those bumpy white lines , we wouldn’t mind rolling with one of these things ourselves. As is the case with so many concepts, however, there’s no telling when or if this Snail will slither on to the market. Snail concept rolls out Braille-to-speech translation originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 May 2011 01:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Two Motorola products in a row here at HWYC ? Say it ain’t so! A week after throwing the Atrix 4G out for discussion , Moto’s Xoom tablet is on the docket next. As the world’s first commercialized Honeycomb tablet, it obviously launched with heightened expectations. That over-the-top Super Bowl ad didn’t help, but we digress. For those who’ve chosen the Xoom over countless others, we have to ask: are you happy with your decision? How’s the software treating you? Taken those cameras out for a spin yet? Battery life still living up to your lofty hopes? If you had the opportunity to tweak anything, what would you do? Shrink the form factor? Toss LTE in from the start? We’re hearing whispers that Motorola may end up partnering with Mazda on the Xoom- Xoom , so get your recommendations in now. Now! How would you change Motorola’s Xoom? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 23:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Move over , Canon, because scientists at the University of Lincoln have just seized the crown for world’s biggest CMOS image sensor with their new Dynamic range Adjustable for Medical Imaging Technology microchip — or ‘DyNAMITe,’ for short. Measuring a hefty 12.8 square cm (or about five square inches), DyNAMITe is roughly 200 times bigger than the chips you’d find in most PCs, making it the largest imager ever made on a wafer of standard, eight-inch diameter. This extra girth allows the active pixel sensor to capture images in high detail, with a 100-micrometer pitch boasting 1280 x 1280p aligned next to a 50-micron layer, carrying 2560 x 2560p. DyNAMITe can also run at up to 90fps and withstand high levels of radiation for several years, making it ideal for medical imaging, including radiotherapy and mammography. Researchers say these enhanced images could help doctors detect cancer in its earliest phases, while allowing them to monitor radiotherapy treatments more closely. No word on when we should expect to see DyNAMITe pop up in hospitals (or a Hasselblad back), but physicists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital are busy looking for other, potentially life-saving applications. Full PR after the break. Continue reading World’s biggest CMOS sensor could help doctors detect and treat cancer World’s biggest CMOS sensor could help doctors detect and treat cancer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Amazon Cloud Player has been laying low following its scuffle with Sony Music , but that hasn’t kept the company’s developers from rolling a crucial new feature out — support for Apple’s iOS devices, which it didn’t have on day one . Despite running in the Safari browser window, we’ve confirmed that songs will indeed play. If you’ve got a device handy, give it a try yourself; otherwise, we’ll update with impressions a little later this evening. Amazon Cloud Player streams tunes to iOS, following silent update originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Tor to fork Firefox for simplified anonymous browsing, doesn’t think you’re paranoid
May 7, 2011 No Comment
Soon political dissidents, whistle blowers, and those trying to cheat MLB.TV’s blackout restrictions will have an easier way to protect their privacy thanks to a dedicated Tor Browser. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Tor is a tool for anonymizing web browsing and communications through encryption and proxy servers. Trouble is, it requires both a browser extension and a standalone app to work — leaving average users “horribly confused,” according to developer Mike Perry. So, the organization has decided to retire the Tor Button and create its own fork of Firefox with private browsing features baked in. As an added benefit, Tor will no longer be at the mercy of Mozilla to fix bugs that affect privacy and security. For now, the group will focus on its downloadable bundle with automatic configuration scripts for simplifying setup, but eventually the paranoid will have a browser they can finally call their own. Tor to fork Firefox for simplified anonymous browsing, doesn’t think you’re paranoid originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Tor to fork Firefox for simplified anonymous browsing, doesn’t think you’re paranoid
May 7, 2011 No Comment
Soon political dissidents, whistle blowers, and those trying to cheat MLB.TV’s blackout restrictions will have an easier way to protect their privacy thanks to a dedicated Tor Browser. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Tor is a tool for anonymizing web browsing and communications through encryption and proxy servers. Trouble is, it requires both a browser extension and a standalone app to work — leaving average users “horribly confused,” according to developer Mike Perry. So, the organization has decided to retire the Tor Button and create its own fork of Firefox with private browsing features baked in. As an added benefit, Tor will no longer be at the mercy of Mozilla to fix bugs that affect privacy and security. For now, the group will focus on its downloadable bundle with automatic configuration scripts for simplifying setup, but eventually the paranoid will have a browser they can finally call their own. Tor to fork Firefox for simplified anonymous browsing, doesn’t think you’re paranoid originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Kate Middleton’s coveted wedding dress was one of the best kept international secrets since the assassination of bin Laden, joked Us Weekly editor Justin Ravitz on ABC News. So exactly how did Duchess Catherine prevent the designer and details from being leaked to fashion bloggers and WikiLeaks? Apparently, all it took was a couple of
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