As a loyal iPod user , you’d have thought that Queen Elizabeth II would have seen fit to bestow an honorary knighthood on a certain Steven Paul Jobs by now. After all, Sir Bill received his back in 2005 even though his company couldn’t quite get its cellphone or tablet strategies to stick with consumers. According to an anonymous senior Labour MP who left Parliament in the last election, Jobs had reached the final stages of approval for “services to technology” only to be rejected in 2009 by the then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Why? Well, according to The Telegraph , Jobs had the audacity to turn down an offer to speak at Labour’s annual conference. In retaliation we hear that Apple is holding Jony Ive — himself, an honorary Commander of the British Empire — hostage in an infinitely looping orange grove somewhere in northern California. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Steve Jobs’ knighthood rejected by Gordon Brown? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Even while its newest plasmas are starting to show up on store shelves Panasonic so far is only issuing a press release with pricing and availability for its 2011 LCD HDTVs so far, confirming much of the retailer info leaked to HDGuru recently . While the 37- and 32-inch DT30 (pictured above) will both ship in April for $1,299 and $1,199, respectively and include the newly upgraded Viera Connect (now with Hulu Plus) smart TV platform, 3D features and more, some of the lower end lines like the E3 and X30 series will make do with a stripped-down Easy IPTV package featuring just the basics — Netflix, Amazon VOD, Napster, Pandora, Facebook and CinemaNow. Check the full release after the break for all the details, we’ll just be waiting around for the big boy VT and GT plasma TVs to make landfall in the coming weeks assuming the rest of the early info holds true. Continue reading Panasonic confirms pricing, ship dates for 2011 LCD TV models Panasonic confirms pricing, ship dates for 2011 LCD TV models originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Even while its newest plasmas are starting to show up on store shelves Panasonic so far is only issuing a press release with pricing and availability for its 2011 LCD HDTVs so far, confirming much of the retailer info leaked to HDGuru recently . While the 37- and 32-inch DT30 (pictured above) will both ship in April for $1,299 and $1,199, respectively and include the newly upgraded Viera Connect (now with Hulu Plus) smart TV platform, 3D features and more, some of the lower end lines like the E3 and X30 series will make do with a stripped-down Easy IPTV package featuring just the basics — Netflix, Amazon VOD, Napster, Pandora, Facebook and CinemaNow. Check the full release after the break for all the details, we’ll just be waiting around for the big boy VT and GT plasma TVs to make landfall in the coming weeks assuming the rest of the early info holds true. Continue reading Panasonic confirms pricing, ship dates for 2011 LCD TV models Panasonic confirms pricing, ship dates for 2011 LCD TV models originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Even while its newest plasmas are starting to show up on store shelves Panasonic so far is only issuing a press release with pricing and availability for its 2011 LCD HDTVs so far, confirming much of the retailer info leaked to HDGuru recently . While the 37- and 32-inch DT30 (pictured above) will both ship in April for $1,299 and $1,199, respectively and include the newly upgraded Viera Connect (now with Hulu Plus) smart TV platform, 3D features and more, some of the lower end lines like the E3 and X30 series will make do with a stripped-down Easy IPTV package featuring just the basics — Netflix, Amazon VOD, Napster, Pandora, Facebook and CinemaNow. Check the full release after the break for all the details, we’ll just be waiting around for the big boy VT and GT plasma TVs to make landfall in the coming weeks assuming the rest of the early info holds true. Continue reading Panasonic confirms pricing, ship dates for 2011 LCD TV models Panasonic confirms pricing, ship dates for 2011 LCD TV models originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Tobii and Lenovo show off prototype eye-controlled laptop, we go eyes-on (video)
March 1, 2011 No Comment
A lot of companies — including heavyweights like Microsoft — believe that motion control is the future of the human-machine interface. But it’s an awful lot of work to wave your hands around every time you want to change windows, isn’t it? Swedish firm Tobii, which specializes in eye control, teamed up with Lenovo to craft a run of 20 prototype Windows 7 laptops with eye control sensors built-in, and we had a chance to check out the setup here at CeBIT today. The verdict? It works extraordinarily well — Tobii clearly knows what it’s doing, because even with our sloppy calibration at the start of the session, the system still detected where we were looking with pinpoint precision. One demo the company had set up was an Expose-style layout of all open windows, and we were able to target the smallest of the bunch (Calculator in this case) consistently and naturally — we never felt like we were “staring” to make something happen. Clearly this is a capability that’ll require some UX thought and research, because you don’t want the computer to just start doing things as you look around; most of the eye-controlled capabilities they’d baked into the laptop here were triggered with a key command, though one feature we really liked — a quick bar to access frequently-used media — was pulled up just by looking beyond the left side of the screen. It also worked very well and never came up when we didn’t want it to. The level of precision was further verified with a simple game they’ve created where you blow up asteroids before they impact Earth just by looking at them; the smallest rocks were only a few pixels wide, and we could consistently blast ‘em. As for commercialization, they’re still a ways off — they’re thinking two years if they can team up with the right partner. Tobii says that there’s a trade-off between sensor size and accuracy; the prototype has a sizable hump on the back and a roughly inch-wide strip running directly below the display, both of which are pretty impractical for a truly portable machine. The sensor must be below the display, we’re told, though it could be made quite a bit thinner — no wider than the bezel you’ve got below your notebook’s current display. Follow the break for a full video demo! Gallery: Tobii and Lenovo’s eye-controlled laptop at CeBIT 2011 Continue reading Tobii and Lenovo show off prototype eye-controlled laptop, we go eyes-on (video) Tobii and Lenovo show off prototype eye-controlled laptop, we go eyes-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If you’ve got a desktop case with a view, we can’t think of a better thing to put on prominent display than a giant, red-trimmed graphics card — and that’s exactly what MSI’s new Radeon HD 6990 -based unit provides. The dual-GPU card is lined up to be AMD’s 2011 flagship, and MSI proudly proclaims that it’s “the most powerful” unit around on the accompanying placard. Interestingly, this is just about the only card MSI’s got at its booth that isn’t available to handle outside of a case — we’re guessing these prototypes are still pretty rare, and really, they look prettier when they’re running at full clip on a motherboard with a ridiculous cooling unit anyhow. Follow the break for a quick video panorama. Gallery: MSI R6990 graphics card at CeBIT 2011 Continue reading MSI’s Radeon HD 6990-based graphics card looks the part (video) MSI’s Radeon HD 6990-based graphics card looks the part (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If you’ve got a desktop case with a view, we can’t think of a better thing to put on prominent display than a giant, red-trimmed graphics card — and that’s exactly what MSI’s new Radeon HD 6990 -based unit provides. The dual-GPU card is lined up to be AMD’s 2011 flagship, and MSI proudly proclaims that it’s “the most powerful” unit around on the accompanying placard. Interestingly, this is just about the only card MSI’s got at its booth that isn’t available to handle outside of a case — we’re guessing these prototypes are still pretty rare, and really, they look prettier when they’re running at full clip on a motherboard with a ridiculous cooling unit anyhow. Follow the break for a quick video panorama. Gallery: MSI R6990 graphics card at CeBIT 2011 Continue reading MSI’s Radeon HD 6990-based graphics card looks the part (video) MSI’s Radeon HD 6990-based graphics card looks the part (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We all know that light can’t exactly pass through solid objects — unless of course, you’re using a laser or something . Yes, X-rays allow us to look into suitcases at the airport and broken bones in our bodies, but there’s a new kid on the block that claims to have done the impossible in a novel fashion. Jochen Aulbach and his colleagues of the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics out in Amsterdam have developed a technology that allows scrambled light to remain focused as it passes through ultra-thin layers of paint. You see, when light is sent through opaque material, it becomes muddled and lost in the space-time continuum. Aulbach and his crew used a spatial light modulator, or SMT, to control a 64-femtosecond long laser pulse that’s passed through a thin layer of paint. The SMT emits pulses that last long enough for only a machine to see and the data is sent to a computer for calibration. NewScientist claims that with this technology, it might be possible to hone in on cancerous cells and blast them to oblivion without damaging the healthy tissue surrounding them. Scientists figure out how to see through walls, sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We all know that light can’t exactly pass through solid objects — unless of course, you’re using a laser or something . Yes, X-rays allow us to look into suitcases at the airport and broken bones in our bodies, but there’s a new kid on the block that claims to have done the impossible in a novel fashion. Jochen Aulbach and his colleagues of the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics out in Amsterdam have developed a technology that allows scrambled light to remain focused as it passes through ultra-thin layers of paint. You see, when light is sent through opaque material, it becomes muddled and lost in the space-time continuum. Aulbach and his crew used a spatial light modulator, or SMT, to control a 64-femtosecond long laser pulse that’s passed through a thin layer of paint. The SMT emits pulses that last long enough for only a machine to see and the data is sent to a computer for calibration. NewScientist claims that with this technology, it might be possible to hone in on cancerous cells and blast them to oblivion without damaging the healthy tissue surrounding them. Scientists figure out how to see through walls, sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Panasonic abandons Jungle portable gaming project, probably scared off by the NGP
March 1, 2011 No Comment
Panasonic has decided to discontinue development of its audacious Jungle portable gaming console , citing “changes in the market and in our own strategic direction” as the reasons. If we had to guess, we’d say those market changes mostly relate to Sony announcing the utterly spectacular NGP , whose release probably coincided too closely with what Panasonic had on its Jungle roadmap, and so the latter company decided to cut its losses and run home. Panasonic also engaged in some early testing with US consumers late last year, which now seems likely to have born unsatisfactory results. It’s a shame, we were sincerely looking forward to another competitor in the portable gaming arena, but we suppose it’s better for a bad product to never see the light of day than to depress us all with its woefulness. Panasonic abandons Jungle portable gaming project, probably scared off by the NGP originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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