Going green is de rigeur , so the sun is becoming a much-preferred source of power. However, solar cells’ inefficient harvesting of helical energies is a major reason they haven’t usurped the power of petroleum. Good thing the big brains at Oak Ridge National Labratory are looking to change that with nanocone-based solar technology. The teeny-tiny cones are made of zinc oxide and create “an intrinsic electric field distribution” to improve electrical charge transport within solar cells. We aren’t sure what that means, but we do know the prickly-looking design provides a 3.2 percent light-to-power conversion efficiency that’s a substantial improvement over the meager 1.8 percent offered by today’s flat photovoltaics made of similar materials. That’s 80 percent more efficient, and 100 percent more awesome . Nanocones make solar cells more efficient, sinister looking originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 May 2011 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sony promises ‘phased restoration’ of PlayStation Network and Qriocity starting this week
April 30, 2011 No Comment
Sony made quite a few promises this morning about how it intends to deal with the fallout from the PlayStation Network outage and breach — you can find our liveblog right here — including improved security measures and a few token handouts of 30-day free subscriptions to PlayStation Plus and Qriocity and possibly some free software. Perhaps more importantly for you gamers, Kaz Hirai told reporters that services will resume “soon,” and by the end of the week we should see some functionality return. Of course, it made those promises in Japanese , but if you want an English copy you won’t have to look far, as the official PlayStation.Blog got hold of a press release with them all spelled out. Find the full document after the break. Continue reading Sony promises ‘phased restoration’ of PlayStation Network and Qriocity starting this week Sony promises ‘phased restoration’ of PlayStation Network and Qriocity starting this week originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 May 2011 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sony’s Kaz Hirai addresses PlayStation Network hack at 1AM ET, we’re liveblogging
April 30, 2011 No Comment
Sony’s PlayStation Network has been down for over a week, and it’s a royal mess for all involved — as you’ve no doubt heard, an external intrusion by unknown hackers compromised the personal information (supposedly including everything but credit card numbers) of potentially million of users. This morning, Sony VP Kaz Hirai (formerly of the PlayStation division) will address the world from the company’s headquarters in Japan, and our friends at Engadget Japanese are on the scene to bring us first-hand details in just a few minutes. Additionally, there appears to be an official livestream that will begin at 1AM ET, so keep it locked right here and potentially find some video at our source link. Update: We’re hearing that Sony’s ” goodwill gesture ” may not be an incredibly significant one — affected users can expect a free 30-day subscription to PlayStation Plus and a free software download of some sort, while Qriocity customers will get an extra 30 days of service on the house. Update 2: As many as 10 million credit card numbers may have been exposed, though Sony says it has no proof that any actually have been compromised, and claims that it’s received no reports of credit card fraud thus far. It is, however, working with the FBI to investigate the hack. More below. 2:00 JST : It’s begun — following a little bit of Mozart, Sony has trotted out three solemn-looking executives. More updates after the break. Developing… Continue reading Sony’s Kaz Hirai addresses PlayStation Network hack at 1AM ET, we’re liveblogging Sony’s Kaz Hirai addresses PlayStation Network hack at 1AM ET, we’re liveblogging originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 May 2011 00:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Motorola’s Atrix 4G may have some serious competition from a performance standpoint, but it’s still got one thing going for it over all of the other Android superphones hitting the streets these days: an optional laptop dock. ‘Course, it’s debatable whether or not said accessory is truly worth paying for, but the phone itself has certainly done its fair share of impressing. You’ve read our take on Motorola’s latest Android whizkid, and now it’s your turn to vent. If you had the power necessary to overhaul the Atrix 4G, how would you go about doing so? Would you nix Motoblur altogether? Toss the latest build on Android onboard? Make it available on more carriers? Handle the laptop dock differently? All ( sane ) opinions are welcome, and comments are open below. How would you change Motorola’s Atrix 4G? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Everyone knows that Windows is installed on the vast majority of computers, but it’s always interesting to be reminded of what a cash cow the OS has been for Redmond. According to Gartner, Microsoft owned 78.6 percent of the global market revenue share for desktop operating systems at the end of 2010 — up almost 9 percent from 2009. That means, of the $30.4 billion in revenue that various companies generated, $23.8 billion lined Microsoft’s coffers. But while Windows remains the kingpin, Mac OS X and — wait for it — Red Hat, posted more substantial gains. Apple’s market revenue share shot up almost 16 percent to 1.7 percent, Red Hat surged 18 percent, while dark horse Oracle leaped from ninth place to fourth, with a 7,683 percent growth in share — no small thanks to its 2009 acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Only one question remains, then — who’s the loser here? Update: Looks like we got this one wrong, folks, as it’s not market share that’s being measured here, but rather revenue share — how much money each company made from its operating systems relative to one another. That means companies that price their operating systems cheaper will be at a disadvantage in the rankings, not to mention those organizations that charge nothing at all — Ubuntu , anyone? Oh, and as some of you have pointed out in comments, there are both desktop and server operating systems in the chart above. Continue reading Shocker! Microsoft commands 79 percent of worldwide OS revenue (update) Shocker! Microsoft commands 79 percent of worldwide OS revenue (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Triton 36,000 submarine to plumb ocean’s deepest depths, comes in yellow (video)
April 30, 2011 No Comment
Richard Branson ‘s not the only one eager to explore that other 70 percent of the world. Triton Submarines has designed a three-passenger sub able to dive 36,000 feet, reaching the deepest part of the world’s oceans. And while Sir Richard envisions a spaceship-like craft, Triton’s design evokes old school bathyspheres: it’s a glass globe. Of course, water pressure poses a serious engineering challenge when you descend seven miles below the surface — the last manned sub to reach that depth had only a single, small window made of plexiglass. The current design uses borosilicate glass (like those transparent displays we, um, saw through a while back) that actually grows stronger as depth pressure increases; it took eight months of careful heating and cooling to produce. Assuming the glass holds, it will take about 75 minutes to reach the bottom of the ocean. Anyone considering a test run should check out the PR video after the break, showing Triton’s other submarines in action. Continue reading Triton 36,000 submarine to plumb ocean’s deepest depths, comes in yellow (video) Triton 36,000 submarine to plumb ocean’s deepest depths, comes in yellow (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If you’ve been on the hunt for the biggest, fastest hard drive around, it seems your options are expanding. I-O Data just introduced the HDCA-UT3.0K external hard drive, which offers USB 3.0 support and 3TB of storage, which, as the company notes, makes it an ideal companion for TVs with a USB recording mode. Struggling to resist the charm of its blue LED and the possibility of owning more storage than you’ll ever need? Look for it in mid-May with a price of
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Looks like AT&T isn’t the only carrier patching cellular connectivity issues this month — a Verizon document suggests that we’ll be getting some brand new radio firmware for the beleaguered HTC Thunderbolt. The handset not only fell victim to Verizon’s LTE outage but has had 3G data and CDMA / LTE cycling issues since day one, so we’re hoping this latest baseband will bring at least a modicum of relief for affected speed demons across the country. What we don’t know is when this patch might show up — we thought the Xoom’s security update would be imminent, but those documents were unceremoniously pulled. HTC Thunderbolt getting new radio firmware, according to Verizon doc originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Everyone knows that Windows is installed on the vast majority of computers, but it’s always interesting to be reminded of what a cash cow the OS has been for Redmond. According to Gartner, Microsoft owned 78.6 percent of the global market for desktop operating systems at the end of 2010 — up almost 9 percent from 2009. That means, of the $30.4 billion in revenue that various companies generated, $23.8 billion lined Microsoft’s coffers. But while Windows remains the kingpin, Mac OS X and — wait for it — Red Hat, posted more substantial gains. Apple’s market share shot up almost 16 percent to 1.7 percent market share, Red Hat surged 18 percent, while dark horse Oracle leaped from ninth place to fourth, with a 7,683 percent growth in market share — no small thanks to its 2009 acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Only one question remains, then — who’s the loser? Continue reading Shocker! Microsoft commands 79 percent of desktop OS market Shocker! Microsoft commands 79 percent of desktop OS market originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve praised Plex in the past for delivering us box-free XMBC and for it’s prodigious media streaming proficiency . Problem is, its app wasn’t optimized for the Honeycomb OS and the upsized screen real estate of Android slates — until now. With the updated code comes tablet-friendly layouts and fast-scrolling in all grid and list views so you can zip through your large local media library. It also includes direct play and internet streaming sans-transcoding (just like the recently revised iOS app ) for sating those right now vid cravings. The improvements serve smaller Android devices as well, which makes the newly egalitarian app more enticing than ever before. Best of all, it’s still only five bucks. [Thanks, Andrew] Plex plays nice with your Honeycomb slate after app update originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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