LCD technology torn down and explained in the most lucid and accessible terms yet (video)
March 17, 2011 No Comment
Look, we know you know all about LED backlights , light diffusion, subpixels, and the things that turn them on, but not everybody does. The humble LCD you’re most likely reading this on still retains a level of mystery about the nitty gritty details of how it works for the vast majority of its users, so here’s a terrific video breakdown of both its component parts and method of operation. Bill Hammack, a self-appointed Engineer Guy, takes us from the LED arrays that provide the light for most current LCDs, through all the filters and diffusers designed to make that light uniform, and into the ways thin film transistors make it possible for us to show moving color images of cats diving into boxes on such displays. It’s exciting, deeply nerdy stuff, and it awaits your audience after the break. Continue reading LCD technology torn down and explained in the most lucid and accessible terms yet (video) LCD technology torn down and explained in the most lucid and accessible terms yet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Caribou Android app opens doors over the internet, needs neither permission nor keys (video)
March 17, 2011 No Comment
Opening doors with wireless RFID cardkeys is old hat at this point, but opening those doors with a smartphone is rather more intriguing. Doing so without permission of the people who put the locks on the doors, well, that brings things up to a whole new level of awesomeness. That’s what Caribou does, a little Android app that remotely connects to a server managing the locks at a supposedly secure location. The app then diddles the ports and security settings of that server until it finds the magic phrase and, in a couple of seconds, it’s open sesame time. Doors are unlocked remotely and then, 30 seconds later, automatically locked again. How thoughtful. We first saw this demonstrated a few days ago but weren’t entirely convinced of its legitimacy. But now, after exchanging a few e-mails with Michael Gough, who discovered the exploit, and Ian Robertson, who wrote the app, we’re convinced. They’re actually working with US-CERT on this issue so that appropriate measures will be taken but, in the short-term, if you have a system like this and it’s sitting out there, IP open to the internet and being caressed by every passing breeze, you might want to think about pulling that in behind your firewall. Lots more info at both source links below, though you can see it working for yourself right here in a video after the break, running on an HTC Incredible . Continue reading Caribou Android app opens doors over the internet, needs neither permission nor keys (video) Caribou Android app opens doors over the internet, needs neither permission nor keys (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Here in the US we’re still looking for a knight in shining armor to protect our free and open internet , but in the UK they’ve found their guy. Now they just need some plate mail. It’s Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee , the man who first proposed the World Wide Web to the World Wide World in 1989. He’ll be working with the UK’s Broadband Stakeholder Group to ensure that any traffic management policies that go into effect are done with transparency and within a set of defined best practices. That is to say: corporations will still have an opportunity to address threats to the overall health of their networks, but they’ll need to do so in an open way. Communications Minister Ed Vaizey summarized it thusly: That agreement should be guided by three simple principles. The first is users should be able to access all legal content. Second, there should be no discrimination against content providers on the basis of commercial rivalry and finally traffic management policies should be clear and transparent. So, that’s good news for those across the pond. Here in the US, well, we’ll just keep braiding our hair and singing out the tower window as loudly as possible. Or maybe it’s time to give Tim Wu a sword. [Photo credit: Paul Clarke ] Sir Tim Berners-Lee signs up to verily protect UK net neutrality originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Car Connectivity Consortium forms to bring more smartphones to more interiors
March 17, 2011 No Comment
Though Terminal Mode has always been an open standard we’ve never really seen any tech companies outside of Espoo show much interest in the stuff, which lets a car mirror a phone’s display. When Nokia sort of shifted gears and signed on with Microsoft that left us wondering what would be next for the company’s infotainment efforts. Good things, as it turns out. The Car Connectivity Consortium has been founded to drive “global innovation for in-vehicle connectivity,” and both Terminal Mode and Nokia will play a big part — though a bigger part will be played by Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and VW. They’re joined by electronics companies Alpine, LG, Panasonic, and Samsung, making us think that maybe Terminal Mode’s time has properly come. Also on the docket for the CCC is study of NFC, which will hopefully standardize the sort of awesome key interactivity BMW recently showed off . Continue reading Car Connectivity Consortium forms to bring more smartphones to more interiors Car Connectivity Consortium forms to bring more smartphones to more interiors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Firefox 4 to be released on March 22nd, download statisticians ready their calculators
March 17, 2011 No Comment
Having kicked out a release candidate on March 9th, Mozilla now feels confident enough in version 4 of its well loved Firefox browser and has set a date for its final release: March 22nd. That’s next Tuesday, if you’re calendar-shy, and a download is penciled in for availability at around 7AM Pacific Time. Mind you, Mozilla believes its RC1 build, already available on Windows, Mac and Linux, will likely be the final version put up in a few days’ time — the team is just monitoring the code and performing last-minute checks to ensure there are no massive, world-ending bugs that haven’t been spotted yet. So that basically means you can risk it now and get your GPU-accelerated web future started early, or you can wait until it’s official on Tuesday and be part of Mozilla’s next attempt at breaking the downloads record . [Thanks, Ro] Firefox 4 to be released on March 22nd, download statisticians ready their calculators originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Android 2.2 is now the dominant version of Google’s OS with 61.3 percent of all active devices
March 17, 2011 No Comment
Considering that we’re about nine months removed from Google’s release of Froyo , you’d expect that version of its mobile OS to have been distributed quite widely by now and indeed it has. 61.3 percent of ( the many ) active Android devices — handsets and tablets, anything with access to the Market is eligible — worldwide are now running version 2.2, making it the most prevalent iteration of the software at the moment. Even more encouraging news is that, when taken together with Android 2.1, that group swells to account for more than 90 percent of active Google devices. If you want to look at the reverse, rather moldy, side of the coin, however, you’ll note that the latest mobile version of the OS, Gingerbread (2.3), is only on 1 percent of devices, while the absolute finest Android, Honeycomb (3.0), barely scrapes a couple tenths of a percent together. So yes, things are moving inexorably forward, just not as rapidly as some might have hoped. Android 2.2 is now the dominant version of Google’s OS with 61.3 percent of all active devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …BYD Motors sneaks on to American market, could make US debut official by year’s end
March 17, 2011 No Comment
We’ve heard rumblings of BYD coming to America before, but it seems it won’t be making a big deal of its Stateside entr
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As hard as it tried, ASUS never could get its Eee PC prices down to $200 MSRP as promised way back in 2007 — a time when Intel-based netbooks still shipped with Linux distros and “tablet PCs” ran a Microsoft OS. Fast forward to today and netbooks are being kicked to the curb for ARM-based tablets running smartphone operating systems. To compete, ASUS, a company that’s become synonymous with netbooks, is planning to ship an unsubsidized $200 to $250 netbook running Android 3.0 or Chrome OS in June. According to DigiTimes sources, anyway, who tend to be pretty accurate with regard to Taiwanese companies. If true then expect to see it announced at Computex which kicks off in Taiwan on May 31st. Will a $200 ASUS Eee PC finally ship with Google’s help? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Another saga put to rest. The question of just when Verizon will release its first 4G LTE handset was answered yesterday with the word “tomorrow,” which makes today that day! Verizon Wireless is now taking online orders for HTC’s 4.3-inch Thunderbolt, pricing the LTE lubber at $250 on a two-year contract. It comes with Android 2.2 as the OS underlying the HTC Sense 2.0 UI, an 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording, 768MB of RAM, and a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 chip that will have to do its best to keep up with those crazy 4G download speeds. If Verizon’s own pricing feels a bit rich to you, shop around — we’ve found the Thunderbolt as low as $180 at Amazon, although the online retailer has it on back order for the moment. [Thanks, Justin] Continue reading HTC Thunderbolt now available to buy, $250 for the almighty power of 4G HTC Thunderbolt now available to buy, $250 for the almighty power of 4G originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Your eyes don’t deceive you. The Engadget Podcast is back — and for this next, greatest episode, Josh, Paul, and Nilay will be sitting down to weigh in on all issues technology related. That’s right, we’re getting the band back together and jamming through the news the only way we know how: haphazardly, and with lots of screaming. Won’t you join us at 6:00PM ET for all the fun? Trust us, you won’t want to miss this! Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 6:00PM ET! The Engadget Podcast, live at 6:00PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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