Golden Gate Bridge plans to collect all tolls electronically by September 2012
January 30, 2011 No Comment
San Francisco’s world-famous Golden Gate Bridge looks much like this right now, but come September 2012 the last of those yellow “cash” signs are scheduled to wink out. That’s because the bridge’s board of directors voted 13-2 to approve a $2.9 million plan that will replace the bridge’s 30 full-time human tolltakers with a fully electronic system. Don’t say you didn’t see this coming, folks. The existing FasTrak subscription RFID transponder system will continue to work, and there will be a camera-based backup as well — if you pass through the bridge without a FasTrak pass, bridge-mounted cameras will take a picture of your license plate and you’ll get a $6 bill in the mail. Planners estimate the move will save about $19.2 million by the year 2020 in salaries and benefits that would otherwise go to the friendly meatbags who work there now, and should things stay on track the revamped system will debut in February of next year. Golden Gate Bridge plans to collect all tolls electronically by September 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Humans, keep your eyes tuned to this post — because at 6:00PM ET , we’ll be starting The Engadget Show live with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak , joining us for a evening of frank, eye-opening and all-around awesome conversation. There’ll be mind-blowing devices, crazy giveaways, and much, much more! We’ve even got music from Zen Albatross . You seriously don’t want to miss it. Continue reading The Engadget Show Live! with Steve Wozniak The Engadget Show Live! with Steve Wozniak originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …MSI’s GT680 gaming laptop reviewed: potent at 720p, some battery life too
January 30, 2011 No Comment
MSI is calling this GT680R the world’s fastest gaming laptop. Spoiler alert — it’s not — but if you drop $1,650 to nab one starting this week, you’ll certainly be getting some bang for those bucks. Trusted Reviews and Hot Hardware recently got their hands on the first Sandy Bridge -equipped portable monster of a gaming rig, and found the experience quite satisfying on the whole. Though Hot Hardware discovered that the 2.0GHz Core i7-2630QM chip and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics weren’t quite capable of playable framerates in the most demanding DX11 titles at native 1080p, lowering the resolution to 720 lines usually did the trick, and when it came to raw CPU benchmarks that Core i7 held its own against even last-gen desktop processors with little trouble to speak of. What’s more, equipped with a nine-cell battery Trusted Reviews managed to eke out three hours of life in a basic productivity test, practically unheard of for a laptop of this class, though we suppose you’re not likely to be carrying around this 7.7 pound beast for the sake of portable spreadsheets, eh? Hit up our source links for more details. MSI’s GT680 gaming laptop reviewed: potent at 720p, some battery life too originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Amazon’s allegedly got an security flaw where hackers can find your password much easier than they would otherwise, and there’s already a fix in place. But get this — you’ll probably need to change your password for the fix to take effect, if you haven’t already done so in the last couple of years. According to Reddit users, the Amazon.com login system will actually accept any phrase so long as it begins with your password, such as “password123″ when the magic word is simply “password” by itself. That apparently makes it that much easier for a computer to guess your password via brute force methods, no matter how counter-intuitive that seems, so if you simply change it immediately — and to something other than “password,” please — you’ll have much sounder dreams. PSA: Change your old Amazon.com password for better security originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Homebuilt UAV hunts down hydrogen balloons, shoots firework missiles (video)
January 30, 2011 No Comment
Augmented reality is swell, don’t get us wrong, but it’s no substitute for the real thing — especially when that thing is a badass tricopter equipped with a jury-rigged firework cannon to rain down miniature hell. Swedish R/C enthusiasts built this first-person flying contraption to carry out a single mission — destroy a series of hydrogen-filled balloons — which will hopefully be hard-coded into future automatons too. After all, balloons could serve as an excellent distraction when they inevitably come for you . Still, there’s no need to worry quite yet, so kick back and enjoy the video above while you contemplate humanity’s end. Homebuilt UAV hunts down hydrogen balloons, shoots firework missiles (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Enspert Identity Tab E201 rings up at $350 with Froyo, Gmail and Android Market
January 30, 2011 No Comment
Enspert blindsided us at CES 2011 with a pair of quality Android tablets, and here’s another surprise — next month, the company’s Identity Tab E201 will apparently ship 100% Google-certified. Importer Dynamism is taking preorders on February 1st for the 7-inch Android 2.2 tablet, which comes with both Gmail and Android Market on board, though admittedly for a somewhat larger outlay than we originally heard. $350 is what you’ll pay for the 800 x 480 slate, which sports a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and PowerVR SGX540 graphics, 8GB storage and 512MB RAM, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, a full compliment of sensors and an SD card slot. Just a month ago we’d have called this quite the deal, but come February 1st you may want to wait — after all, Google’s busy bees may show off the fruits of their labors the very next day . Enspert Identity Tab E201 rings up at $350 with Froyo, Gmail and Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Chrysler shows off Ram plug-in hybrid electric truck, won’t sell it to you
January 30, 2011 No Comment
There’s already a few hybrid trucks on the market (most notably from GM), but true plug-in hybrid electric trucks are another matter altogether. Chrysler now looks set to change that, however — at least in a small way — with its new Ram plug-in hybrid that’s set to roll out to fleet operators this summer. It was just unveiled at the Washington D.C. Auto Show, and it pairs a 12 kWh battery pack from Canadian battery-maker Electrovaya with Chrysler’s own 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine, which Electrovaya says will allow for up to 20 miles of driving on electricity only. Unfortunately, there’s no word on any plans to actually make the truck available to individual consumers, but Chrysler does seem to at least be optimistic about hybrid trucks in general, with a company spokesman noting that half-ton pickups are naturally much better at carrying a battery pack than a car, and that trucks work better as hybrid vehicle platforms. Continue reading Chrysler shows off Ram plug-in hybrid electric truck, won’t sell it to you Chrysler shows off Ram plug-in hybrid electric truck, won’t sell it to you originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Android Honeycomb port for Nook Color gets graphics acceleration, first demo video
January 30, 2011 No Comment
Can’t wait until February 2nd to see more of Android 3.0 in action? That’s not a problem, as today we’ve got a whole 129 seconds of video showing Google’s latest mobile software doing its thing on the Nook Color. The OS was ported to B&N’s tablet on Friday, when we were promised further work would be taking place over the weekend to enable hardware acceleration of the GUI, and what do you know, that goal has been achieved with plenty of Sunday to spare! Most core functionality is still not available, but the delicious Honeycomb interface is very much in effect. Jump past the break for the eye candy feast. [Thanks, Jules] Continue reading Android Honeycomb port for Nook Color gets graphics acceleration, first demo video Android Honeycomb port for Nook Color gets graphics acceleration, first demo video originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sanho announces new HyperDrive line-up, still enough storage for your Frank Zappa discography
January 30, 2011 No Comment
Surely you remember Sanho’s HyperDrive lineup — ya know, the only portable HDD that plays nicely with the iPad? Well, if you don’t dig the $249 entry level price, you’re in luck. The company just announced a bunch of new HDDs for you to take with you and your iPad on that road trip you’ve had planned for years. The new drives no longer sport the QVGA color display or the CF and SD card slots — instead, the black case has two mini USB ports and a power socket. The HyperDrive doesn’t come with the traditional AC adapter but instead a USB-to-DC cable and the user-replaceable battery will allow up to 40GB of transfers on a single charge. And if you’re wondering why there’s two USB ports, we really couldn’t tell you. Perhaps if you choose the right port while connected to your PC and enter the Konami code, unicorns and fairy dust will pop out of your screen — wishful thinking, we know. The HyperDrives ship in March (pre-ordering is available now) with prices starting at $99 for a bring-your-own-drive housing, 1TB for $349 and various sizes in-between. So, if your photo/video library is worth accessing at all times, well, props to you. Press release is after the break. Continue reading Sanho announces new HyperDrive line-up, still enough storage for your Frank Zappa discography Sanho announces new HyperDrive line-up, still enough storage for your Frank Zappa discography originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Mark Zuckerberg meets the fake Mark Zuckerbergs on Saturday Night Live (video)
January 30, 2011 No Comment
Mark Zuckerberg , the man who invented poking and the subject of a major motion picture in 2010 just met his nemeses on the set of Saturday Night Live. No, not the Winklevoss twins, we’re talking Jesse Eisenberg, the man nominated for an Academy Award after playing Zuckerberg in The Social Network . Toss in Andy Samberg and we’ve got a comically uncomfortable situation from Web 2.0′s very personification of awkward. All hail the Zuck Bergs! Continue reading Mark Zuckerberg meets the fake Mark Zuckerbergs on Saturday Night Live (video) Mark Zuckerberg meets the fake Mark Zuckerbergs on Saturday Night Live (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Jan 2011 03:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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