They may not be able to please all of the people all of the time, but President Obama and gang are doing their best to reach across the OS aisle with a new Android app. Like the iPhone edition that came before it, this official White House app offers presidential photos and video, updates from the blog and briefing room, and alerts about events and announcements. Unfortunately, all of the people won’t be pleased with this new update, either, as the thing is still only available to iOS and Android users, but that’s politics for you. Official White House Android app attempts to quash OS inequality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 23:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Researchers show off DLC projector screen viewable in bright lighting conditions
April 19, 2011 No Comment
One of the knocks against projectors has always been that they’re not able to perform to their fullest unless the room is completely dark, but that may finally change if some researchers from Japan’s Tohoku University have their way. They’ve developed a projector screen based on Diffused Light Control (or DLC), which allows only the light from the projector to be diffused towards those looking at the screen, while all other ambient light is either absorbed or reflected away. Of course, that doesn’t mean the screen is quite ready for your home theater or boardroom. As you can see above, the current screen is made up of small panels that leave some noticeable seams, and it apparently still has considerable trouble in direct sunlight, although the researchers are confident both of those problems can eventually be overcome. Head on past the break to check it out on video. Continue reading Researchers show off DLC projector screen viewable in bright lighting conditions Researchers show off DLC projector screen viewable in bright lighting conditions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google’s Map Maker is a clone of Maps, except you can scribble local data all over it
April 19, 2011 No Comment
Google may have stashed the locations of every WiFi access point and convenience store goodie the world over, but there are things that even 360-degree cameras, massive algorithms and self-driving cars can’t do; things like map out the locations of all your favorite neighborhood haunts. That’s why Google needs you. This week, the company unleashed Google Map Maker on the United States, which is basically a parallel version of Google Maps that anyone can add to — fleshing out the existing grid with additional details like precise structures, secret passages, whatever you care to name. Google plans to review all crowdsourced edits, however, so it won’t quite be a free-for-all — prepare for a wee bit of skepticism when you divulge the locations of buried nuclear launch silos, alien artifacts, and your local Jedi dojo. Google’s Map Maker is a clone of Maps, except you can scribble local data all over it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Philips GoGear Connect gets Gingerbread and some new threads, we go hands-on
April 19, 2011 No Comment
It’s been a while since we last saw Philip’s GoGear Connect PMP , and in the meantime it’s acquired a new look and a new flavor of Android. The new GoGear has gone from white to black, lost its trackball in favor of a capacitive touchscreen display, and exchanged the lowly Android 2.1 for Gingerbread . Like its competition from Samsung , the device also has access to the Android Market and all those apps that lesser PMPs lack. After getting some quality time with a prototype of the new device, we found the copper-colored buttons and speaker grill running along its right side to form an intriguing design, but the overall fit and finish — not to mention the lack of a backlight for the screen — demonstrated that it wasn’t quite ready for primetime. Luckily, there’s plenty of time to work out the kinks, as Philips has pegged a September debut for the 8GB and 16GB versions (at $179 and to-be-determined price points, respectively), and promised a 32GB iteration will come later. PR after the break. Gallery: Philips GoGear Connect PMP hands-on Continue reading Philips GoGear Connect gets Gingerbread and some new threads, we go hands-on Philips GoGear Connect gets Gingerbread and some new threads, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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This is starting to get a bit repetitive , but we’re sure Intel will never tire of hearing it: the chip maker just had its best quarter ever. The company expected to pull in roughly $11.6 billion, topping last quarter (and its previous record) by $500 million. Looks like the company was being conservative enough to make Pat Robertson blush — it raked in a grand total of $12.8 billion in Q1 of 2011. About $500 million of that discrepancy can be explained by the acquisition of McAfee and Infineon , the rest is thanks to huge increases in sales across all market segments. Now go ahead, Intel, you just pretend to be surprised like last quarter. Intel shocks everyone, including itself, with record Q1 earnings originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It appears Motorola is taking a page from the Samsung playbook and making the Xoom carrier-agnostic. Verizon and Sprint are already marching along and, according Wireless Goodness , an AT&T version is about to join the parade. The FCC approved a “hand held device” from Motorola that packs an HSDPA-capable radio on the 850MHz and 1900MHz bands, which just so happen to be the very same frequencies used by AT&T. A screen shot snapped by Wireless Goodness refers to the product as a “wireless tablet with embedded WLAN,” though that description is conspicuously absent from the documents now. The filing also makes mention of MOTOTalk, two-way radio functionality, a feature missing from other Xoom versions that seems like a perfect fit for the rumored rugged tablet the company is working on . Looks like that little bundle of “4G” tablet joy teased during CES is finally on its way. GSM-flavored Xoom passes FCC muster, bound for AT&T? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …AMD elevates the low-end with trio of sub-$100 cards: Radeon HD 6670, 6570, and 6450
April 19, 2011 No Comment
Graphics card companies don’t live and die by the enthusiast market alone. That may be where the glory is, but it’s the budget cards that really bring in the bacon. For the entry level, AMD just unleashed a trio of sub-$100 cards, the Radeon HD 6670, 6570, and 6450. How do they perform? Well, let’s just say you get what you pay for. Reaction from reviewers has been one of mild indifference. Depending on manufacturer, fan noise does appear to be an issue, possibly precluding the cards from being a viable HTPC choice. Otherwise, even the lowly, $55 6450 is a worthy upgrade over an integrated graphics chip or a two-year-old discreet card, but it can’t match the performance of NVIDIA’s GT 430 , which can be had for only a few dollars more. Consensus was that, with prices of the older 5000 series being slashed, purchasers can get more bang for their GPU buck by sticking with last generation cards (like the Radeon HD 5750 ) if they’re looking for pure gaming prowess. That said, the GDDR5 flavors of the 6670 provide perfectly playable performance on most modern games (it averaged 45 FPS in Call of Duty: Black Ops ) for just $99 (the 6570 runs about $79). Just beware those models shipping with GDDR3. Benchmarks galore below. Read – Hexus Read – techPowerUp 6450 Read – techPowerUp 6670 Read – Guru3D Read – Tech Report Read – Tom’s Hardware 6670 and 6570 Read – Tom’s Hardware 6450 Read – TweakTown Read – AnandTech Read – HotHardware AMD elevates the low-end with trio of sub-$100 cards: Radeon HD 6670, 6570, and 6450 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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What’s in a PlayBook ? No, literally, what is in that thing? Well, most of the specs were known ahead of today’s release , but there was a bit of confusion about whether RIM’s 7-inch tablet did or didn’t have a gyroscope, which has now been set straight (it does!) by the crew at iFixit . They did their usual study of what it’ll take to repair your own PlayBook should the need ever arise, and gave it a repairability score of 7 out of 10. Replacing the front glass would be a bit of a pain to do, but then that’s the case with most portable devices. The motherboard also got a thorough examination, with all the power management, wireless connectivity, and memory chips getting identified and recorded for posterity. If you want to check iFixit ‘s work, feel free to visit UBM Tech Insights as well, who have their own component list and closeup photography of that dual-core TI OMAP4430 system-on-chip. Yes, closeup photography . BlackBerry PlayBook pried open, gyroscope and other goodies discovered originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It looks like that funky Acer netbook with the dented lid that we spied at MWC wasn’t a one-off. The company just released the Aspire One 722, an 11-inch mini with the same aesthetic (and a likely successor to the 721 ). Like the D257 we saw in Barcelona, its lid is made of molded plastic, sculpted to resemble a series of ripples. Spec-wise, it has the same innards as the more staid-looking Aspire One 522 , pairing AMD’s netbook-class 1GHz C-50 Ontario processor with Radeon HD 6250 graphics. But the 722 improves on the 10-inch 522 with higher 1366 x 768 resolution, two speakers instead of one, and rated battery life of up to seven hours — a boost over the 522′s six-hour max. No word yet on pricing or availability, but for now you can content yourself with some official press shots. Gallery: Acer Aspire One 722 Acer releases Aspire One 722 netbook, tries to make molded plastic happen originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Trademark filing, domain names suggest Toshiba’s tablet might be named ‘Thrive’
April 19, 2011 No Comment
Could Toshiba’s nameless Honeycomb tablet finally have a proper name? Thanks to a helpful tipster, we now have our clearest indication yet. Toshiba just filled a trademark application for the name “Thrive” last week and, as you can see above, it clearly describes the goods and services being trademarked as a tablet computer. What’s more, it seems that the company’s also gone on a bit of a domain name buying spree as of late, with it snapping up a number of “Thrive” variations including ToshibaThrive.com, ThriveTablet.com, ThriveToshiba.com and TabletThrive.com (none of which actually go anywhere just yet). Of course, this isn’t the first possible moniker for the tablet that’s cropped up. The name “Antares” surfaced way back at Mobile World Congress, which could account for the ANT model name we also spotted, although it certainly sounds more like a codename than “Thrive” does to our ears — and, as far as we can tell, Toshiba hasn’t attempted to register a trademark for Antares (or any other names recently, for that matter). [Thanks, Babyfacemagee] Trademark filing, domain names suggest Toshiba’s tablet might be named ‘Thrive’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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