New York subway schedule turned into a beautiful, musical visualization (video)
January 31, 2011 No Comment
HTML5 , JavaScript and a tiny pinch of Flash. Those are your ingredients for building one of the neatest, simplest websites we’ve come across in a long time. Conductor, as its maker Alexander Chen dubs it, is a visualization built on New York ‘s publicly available subway schedule API. It shows the progress of the Big Apple’s underground carriers throughout the day and garnishes the experience with a delightful musical trick every time two lines cross. You can see it on video after the break or just hit the source link and experience it for yourself. Continue reading New York subway schedule turned into a beautiful, musical visualization (video) New York subway schedule turned into a beautiful, musical visualization (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Though it was predated by a usable hack , the Pantech UML290 USB modem — one of just two devices launched so far for Verizon’s LTE network — has finally been blessed with an official Mac OS driver. What does this mean? Well, technically, it means that this is the very first time Mac users are getting any LTE love in the US whatsoever — though with that Samsung-sourced mobile hotspot on the horizon, USB modems might be a tough sale at this point. On a bright note, the availability of the driver today means that Verizon beat its own estimate of February; the UML290′s counterpart from LG, the VL600, is still Windows-only, though we imagine that’ll be hitting soon as well. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Pantech’s UML290 LTE modem for Verizon gets official Mac support originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …HTC Thunderbolt might be getting simultaneous voice and data on 3G after all
January 31, 2011 No Comment
We won’t lie: we’ve been pretty skeptical of the rumors so far that the HTC Thunderbolt would have support for simultaneous voice and data over EV-DO — SVDO , as it’s known — turned on. Perhaps more than any other US carrier, Verizon has a reputation for testing the living daylights out of devices and locking out hardware that doesn’t meet its reliability standards, and so we were a little leery of some supposedly leaked internal communication not long ago letting reps know that although it’ll be enabled, it shouldn’t be discussed because it doesn’t offer an “experience… consistent with [their] brand.” Well, we’ve just been fed a second document that features the same wording, so it looks like this might be real after all — and what’s more, it’s got updated verbiage stating that mobile hotspot capability will be available at launch, contrary to other leaks floating around today. This particular document is dated today, so we’re feeling good that the information is current — and if anything, it should get potential Thunderbolt buyers more excited than ever. [Thanks, David] HTC Thunderbolt might be getting simultaneous voice and data on 3G after all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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When is a tablet sold not actually a tablet sold? When it’s a Galaxy Tab , apparently. As The Wall Street Journal reports, those two million Galaxy Tabs that Samsung reported it had “sold” in the fourth quarter of last year were apparently not actual sales to consumers, but simply sales to distributors (which is a different matter altogether). Even more surprisingly, Samsung’s Lee Young-hee further explained on an earnings call on Friday that so-called “sell-out” sales to customers were actually “quite small,” but she wouldn’t provide a specific number. Somewhat confusingly, however, she also later noted that while “sell-out wasn’t as fast as we expected,” Samsung still believes that sales to consumers were “quite OK,” and that it is “quite optimistic” about 2011. Samsung says Galaxy Tab sales to consumers actually ‘quite small’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Moto hasn’t been shying away from the Apple jabs this year, and it’s got another one in store for the Super Bowl this week with a commercial that’ll poke fun at Cupertino’s 1984 Macintosh ad, perhaps the most famous Super Bowl spot of all time. In it, the company says that “2011 looks a lot like 1984″ with “one authority, one design, one way to work” while showing Planet Earth wearing a pair of shiny white iPod / iPhone buds. Boom , here comes a new planet — a red, gaseous one with an “M” logo on it — that pimps a bunch of wild features we’ll be seeing in the Xoom like a dual-core processor, upgradeable 4G, and Honeycomb out of the box. In closing, Moto says “it’s time to live a free life.” We would’ve liked to have seen Motorola follow a format closer to that 1984 commercial, but it’s a pretty well-played jab nonetheless — and it’s conceivable that this is just a teaser for the actual ad that’ll air next weekend. Follow the break to check it out. Continue reading Motorola teases Xoom Super Bowl ad: ’2011 looks a lot like 1984′ Motorola teases Xoom Super Bowl ad: ’2011 looks a lot like 1984′ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Notbook (n.) — An affordable ultraportable laptop, typically with a 11.6-inch or 12-inch display that is not a netbook. It packs more power than a netbook (i.e. can handle 1080p video and Flash at fullscreen) and provides a more comfortable computing experience than the typical, 10-inch underpowered, shrunken Atom-based laptop. Most do not have optical drives, but do last for over five hours on a charge. Unlike pricey ultraportable laptops, notbooks are more affordable and start at around $400. About six months ago, the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron M101z arrived on my doorstep for review. The AMD Neo-powered system looked like a slightly enlarged netbook , but in a briefing with Dell, the product manager reinforced quite a few times that the system was absolutely “not a netbook.” I can’t remember his exact wording, but he made it crystal clear — the $449 Inspiron M101z was so much more powerful than an Intel Atom netbook that it could be one’s primary machine. Obviously, I started calling these sorts of laptops “notbooks,” and over the next few months, more and more of them started popping up. Some of them paired Atom with an NVIDIA Ion GPU (e.g. Eee PC 1215N ), while others used AMD’s Neo chip and more recently AMD’s new Fusion Zacate APU. (Intel’s Core ULV-powered systems are frankly too expensive to be considered in this category, though some Pentium / Core 2 Duo systems, like like the Acer Timeline X1810T , could qualify.) Uh, so what? There’s a new crop of more powerful, affordable, and highly mobile laptops — what’s the big deal? Well, while many think tablets are what will ultimately cut the netbook market down to size, it’s the notbooks that will also seriously hit the Atom-based lilliputian laptops of today where it really hurts. Don’t get me wrong, ARM-powered tablets like the iPad and Motorola Xoom are going to impact netbook sales in a big way, too (heck, they already have !), but mark my words, notbooks or affordable ultraportables will take a noticeable chunk of both the netbook and the mainstream laptop market. There’s finally a class of laptops that provide a terrific balance between primary and mobile computing without breaking the bank. Think I’m crazy? Hit the break to understand what I’m talking about. Continue reading Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Intel finds Sandy Bridge chipset design flaw, shipments stopped and recalls beginning
January 31, 2011 No Comment
A problem requiring a “silicon fix” is bad news in the chipset business, and sadly that’s what Intel is announcing. Its new Intel 6 Series chipset, Cougar Point , has been found to have a flaw, something to do with the SATA controller. Intel is indicating that the ports can “degrade over time,” leading to poor i/o performance down the road. All shipments have been stopped and a fix has been implemented for new deliveries, but it sounds like recalls will be starting soon for those with this ticking time bomb silicon within. It isn’t a critical problem right now, though, so if you own a Sandy Bridge Core i5 or Core i7 system keep computing with confidence while looking for a recall notice, but it is bad news for Intel’s bottom line: the company is advising a $300 million hit to revenue. [Thanks, Matt] Continue reading Intel finds Sandy Bridge chipset design flaw, shipments stopped and recalls beginning Intel finds Sandy Bridge chipset design flaw, shipments stopped and recalls beginning originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Paris is a city of many things, things like great wine, sweet romance, and towers that looked much bigger in pictures. Now it’s also a city of open data. ParisData has launched, home to the “open data policy of the City of Paris.” Here you’ll find reams and reams of bits and bytes from the city’s various municipal organizations, all released in the “spirit of transparency and open innovation.” All is licensed ODbL, which is free to share and adapt so long as it stays open and stays attributed. What sort of data is there? Not an awful lot at this point, if we’re honest, a few random lists of names and some other files, all quite naturally in French. But, we did find an interesting map listing locations of public parks and sidewalks, which Ren
Continue reading …Ford Focus Electric unlikely to support DC quick-charging, slower than the Leaf after all?
January 31, 2011 No Comment
At its unveiling at CES , Ford missed no opportunity to talk up the ability of its Focus Electric to charge in half the time of the Nissan Leaf when connected to a Level 2 (220 – 240V) charger, of the sort that Best Buy will gladly install for you for just $1,499 . Three to four hours is all it should take, indeed impressive compared to the eight hours the Leaf needs at the same voltage. However, the story doesn’t end there, as the Leaf has another trick up its sleeve: DC fast-charging via the CHAdeMO standard. That gives 80 miles of range in just 30 minutes and, while not a global standard yet, it’s certainly trying to be . The SAE is working on its own DC quick-charger standard, and that’s the pony Ford is looking to back, saying: Fast charge will not be included on the Focus Electric until an industry standard has been set by SAE. Once an approved/accepted standard is in place, we will work on getting the car ready for [it]. That leaves us with two questions. First, will the SAE will get its standard finalized before Ford gets the Focus Electric finalized? Second, will the SAE standard be compatible with the Japanese CHAdeMO standard? Sadly, our magic eight ball is not giving us much hope on either account. Ford Focus Electric unlikely to support DC quick-charging, slower than the Leaf after all? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Dell Streak 7 launching at T-Mobile on February 2nd: $200 with two-year contract, $450 without
January 31, 2011 No Comment
It’s been an interesting few weeks of rumored Dell Streak 7 prices, but as promised , T-Mobile’s setting the record straight with some official dollar figures. Yep, that predicted $330 price was indeed pretty far off — turns out, T-Mobile will be offering the 7-inch, Android 2.2 tablet for just $200 (okay, $199.99 to be exact) on contract starting this Wednesday, February 2nd. Of course, you’ll have to sign a two-year contract to get that sweet deal as well as send in a $50 mail-in rebate. Those looking for a bit more freedom can snatch up the NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered, T-Mobile HSPA+ slate for 450 bucks, which actually seems like a pretty sweet deal to us considering the Samsung Galaxy Tab is still about $500 off contract and $300 with two years of service. Sure, the Galaxy Tab has a few more things going for it, including a higher resolution display and bigger battery, but you’ll just have to wait for our full review of the Streak 7 to find out if Dell’s got a killer “4G” Android tablet hitting shelves later this week. Dell Streak 7 launching at T-Mobile on February 2nd: $200 with two-year contract, $450 without originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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