Want some more Droid 3 eye candy? If you just recently bought a Droid 2 , the answer is probably “no, please, no” — but nonetheless, we’ve got some for you. A couple more shots of the rumored refresh have popped up on HowardForums once again, showing off a QWERTY keyboard that looks largely similar to the one it’s replacing with one very, very notable exception: it’s a 5-row deal this time around with what appear to be half-height keys for the numeric row. People love 5-row keyboards, so if this is legit — and we really have no reason to doubt that it is — that feature alone could move a lot of phones. More on this soon, we hope. Motorola Droid 3 for Verizon breaks cover once again originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Want some more Droid 3 eye candy? If you just recently bought a Droid 2 , the answer is probably “no, please, no” — but nonetheless, we’ve got some for you. A couple more shots of the rumored refresh have popped up on HowardForums once again, showing off a QWERTY keyboard that looks largely similar to the one it’s replacing with one very, very notable exception: it’s a 5-row deal this time around with what appear to be half-height keys for the numeric row. People love 5-row keyboards, so if this is legit — and we really have no reason to doubt that it is — that feature alone could move a lot of phones. More on this soon, we hope. Motorola Droid 3 for Verizon breaks cover once again originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Want some more Droid 3 eye candy? If you just recently bought a Droid 2 , the answer is probably “no, please, no” — but nonetheless, we’ve got some for you. A couple more shots of the rumored refresh have popped up on HowardForums once again, showing off a QWERTY keyboard that looks largely similar to the one it’s replacing with one very, very notable exception: it’s a 5-row deal this time around with what appear to be half-height keys for the numeric row. People love 5-row keyboards, so if this is legit — and we really have no reason to doubt that it is — that feature alone could move a lot of phones. More on this soon, we hope. Motorola Droid 3 for Verizon breaks cover once again originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …University of Central Florida’s miniature laser diode aims to speed up networking
March 16, 2011 No Comment
The use of laser as a means of data transmission is hardly anything new, but the current crop of laser diodes can only handle so much stress, provided that they don’t fail in the first place. Luckily, the geniuses over at the University of Central Florida are about to deliver a smaller yet more intense and more reliable diode, which will lead to many more potential applications even beyond the scope of networking — think cheaper, more effective hair removal. Little is said about how Professor Dennis Deppe’s team made this possible, but once they work out how to optimize the operating voltage for better efficiency, Deppe reckons we’ll see diode-embedded high speed, high bandwidth cables in the shops in four or five years’ time. Seriously, we’d do anything to keep our latency low for some HD gaming action. Continue reading University of Central Florida’s miniature laser diode aims to speed up networking University of Central Florida’s miniature laser diode aims to speed up networking originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, it looks like Ubisoft still thinks there some room left in the rhythm game genre. It’s just announced that it will be releasing Rocksmith for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime this fall, which is actually a revamped version of the Guitar Rising game that has been in development at GameTank for some time now. The hook with this one is that it’ll actually let you use any real guitar to play the game, and it even promises to teach you how to play if you don’t know already. Ubisoft also says that you won’t need an amplifier to play — you just plug your guitar right into your console, apparently with a standard USB instrument cable. Details on the game itself are otherwise fairly light, although it does seem like you’ll have a pretty solid lineup of music to play along with, including tracks from David Bowie, The Black Keys, Interpol, Nirvana and The Rolling Stones. Head on past the break for a teaser video. Continue reading Ubisoft’s Rocksmith aims to prove anyone can play guitar Ubisoft’s Rocksmith aims to prove anyone can play guitar originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Ever wanted to tell your loved ones how grateful (or ungrateful) you are for your packed lunch, but not keen on having an awkward face-to-face dialog about it? Well, now you can! A research group at Ochanomizu University, Japan hacked up a nerdy lunch box — consisting of a Creative webcam and a Viliv S5 MID — just for this purpose. The idea is that when opened, the webcam will start recording the box being prepared at home; and when it’s opened again at work, it automatically starts playing back the preparation footage while simultaneously recording the diner munching away. Obviously, you can throw in the occasional “oishii” and “arigatÅ” while you’re at it. Sounds like the perfect gift for newlyweds, if you ask us. Video after the break. Continue reading LunchCommunicator films your every single bite, saves relationships LunchCommunicator films your every single bite, saves relationships originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung Series 9 laptop hits tomorrow for $1,649, 11-inch version coming in April
March 16, 2011 No Comment
Sure, we saw some pricing leaks of the super slim Series 9 this morning, but Samsung is finally coming clean now with all the official details. Starting on March 17th (yep, tomorrow!), the 13.3-inch laptop with its Core i5-2537M processor, 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, and Windows 7 Home Premium will be available for $1,649. Sure, it’s a bit more than we expected, but we guess when you consider its solid state storage and 400nit display it makes a bit more sense. Still, there’s a big part of us that wishes there was a more entry-level configuration of the beautiful duralumin machine — in fact the only other configuration will be a $1,699 model with Win 7 Professional. The 13-inch model will be up for grabs at Best Buy, Tiger Direct, Amazon, and a number of other e-tailers. Wondering about that 11.1-inch Series 9 model that we saw hanging around a few weeks ago? That one is a bit farther out, though not by much. Samsung isn’t releasing pricing on the smaller, 2.3-pound version, but it will be hitting in mid-April with a older Core i3-380UM processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB SSD. It sounds like that one will be kinder on the wallet, but we’re still convinced there are a bunch out there that will opt for the larger screened machine. We’re hoping to bring you a review of the 13-incher very soon, but in the meantime hit the break for the official release. Continue reading Samsung Series 9 laptop hits tomorrow for $1,649, 11-inch version coming in April Samsung Series 9 laptop hits tomorrow for $1,649, 11-inch version coming in April originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung serves up Series 2, Series 4, and Series 6 laptops for serious, professional types
March 16, 2011 No Comment
Okay, so Samsung’s newest business laptops may not be as slim or light as their Series 9 brother , but they actually don’t look half bad. First up is the Series 2, and as you may expect, the 12.5- and 14-inch systems are the most budget ones of the bunch. We don’t have a price on the duo, but the smaller version packs an Intel Celeron processor while the 14-incher kicks it up to a Sandy Bridge Core i3 CPU. Sadly, we don’t have details on the exact configurations either, but they will be available with up to 4GB of RAM and 320GB hard drives. Jumping on up, the Series 4 keeps the same 12.5- and 14-inch chassis options, but provides new Sandy Bridge Core i3, i5, and i7 processor options as well as 7,200RPM hard drives and six-cell batteries. Last but not least is the Series 6, which tops off the chain with some higher-end specs. Unlike the other two lines, the 6 comes with 14- and 15.6-inch SuperBright 300-nit displays — there’s also a 1600 x 900 resolution option on these, while the others keep it at the standard 1366 x 768. The Series 6 is also available with your choice of Core 2011 processors (i3, i5, and i7 all available) and finally jacks up the graphics power with an NVIDIA NVS 4200M GPU. All three systems are said to be made of “super-hard external casing,” have metal hinges, and pack 1.3 megapixel webcams. We don’t have any pricing details, but the 2 and 4 will be available in April and the Series 6 in May. Check out the pictures below or sneak past the break for more details. Gallery: Samsung Series 4 laptops Continue reading Samsung serves up Series 2, Series 4, and Series 6 laptops for serious, professional types Samsung serves up Series 2, Series 4, and Series 6 laptops for serious, professional types originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …China tightens grip on VPN access amid pro-democracy protests, Gmail users also affected
March 16, 2011 No Comment
If you’ve been struggling to get your dose of Facebook or Twitter in China recently, then you’re probably one of the many Internet users who’ve had their VPN access — either free or paid for — blocked over the last two weeks or so. That’s right, the notorious Great Firewall of China is still alive and well, and leaving proxy servers aside, VPN is pretty much the only way for keen netizens to access websites that are deemed too sensitive for their eyes; or to “leap over the wall,” as they say. Alas, the recent pro-democracy protests didn’t exactly do these guys any favor — for one, their organizers used Twitter along with an overseas human rights website to gather protesters, and with the National People’s Congress meetings that were about to take place (and wrapped up last night), it was no surprise that the government went tough on this little bypassing trick. To make matters worse, PC World is reporting that Gmail users are also affected by slow or limited access, despite the service previously being free from China’s blacklist. We reached out to a handful of major VPN service providers, and they all confirmed a significant increase in the amount of blockage — possibly by having their servers’ PPTP IP addresses blocked — over the last two weeks. One company even spotted the Chinese government subscribing to its paid service, only to work its way into the network to locate the company’s PPTP server list, and then put them behind the firewall. Fortunately for some, the better-off companies had backup servers to rapidly resolve the problem, whereas the cheaper and free services were unable to dodge the bullet. This just goes to show that sometimes you get what you pay for. That said, with practically unlimited human hacking power at its disposal, it doesn’t take much for the firewall to shut down everything heading its way. For the sake of our friends and expats there, let’s just hope that the government will take things down a notch as soon as the storm calms. China tightens grip on VPN access amid pro-democracy protests, Gmail users also affected originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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One small checkbox for your mouse pointer, one giant leap for your Twitter account’s security. The microblogging site that every techie knows, loves , and occasionally loathes , has added a new option to allow users to go HTTPS full-time. For the unenlightened among you, that means all your communications with Twitter can now be done over an SSL-encrypted channel, which massively boosts their resilience to external attacks. That won’t protect you if you’re careless with your password or leave your account logged in on computers other than your own, but at least you can sleep a little more restfully knowing that nobody other than yourself will be embarrassing you on the Twittersphere. Twitter adds ‘Always use HTTPS’ option, makes cyberterrorists FOF originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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