The writers over at Busy Mommy Media have run the Nissan Leaf through a special battery of ‘family’ tests to produce the kind of review of the EV that we don’t see every day around here. Still, the family perspective is an especially interesting one for the electric vehicle, since widespread adoption will largely depend on how it fares in just such lifestyles. So how did the Leaf fare? Exceedingly well, it turns out, getting high marks for performance, cargo space, and interior space. The only problem raised was the fact that the reviewer could not fit all three of her required car seats into the back seat, but was able to change them out for slimmer models which did, in fact, fit. Check out the video after the break for the full mommy (and daddy) treatment. Continue reading Nissan Leaf gets the ‘family’ review treatment, earns high marks Nissan Leaf gets the ‘family’ review treatment, earns high marks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Uh oh. Since its debut, the iPad has been variously hailed as the final nail in the coffin of all physical media and the savior of the magazine and newspaper industries. A few magazines, such as Wired , had truly impressive digital launches, with over 100,000 downloads of its first issue in June. It doesn’t seem, however, that the stellar start was in any way sustainable. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which collects magazine circulation data from companies willing to furnish numbers, all iPad magazines have seen fall offs in downloads over the past few months. Wired was averaging 31,000 downloads from July through September, had 22,000 and 23,000 respectively in October and November. Other magazines have seen similar declines: Vanity Fair sold 8,700 downloads of its November issue, down from an average of about 10,500 from August through October; GQ sold 11,0000 copies, its worst showing yet. Now, not all magazines release their numbers, of course — including The New Yorker , People , and Esquire — but the numbers we do have seem to be indicating a trend of general decline after a short burst of excitement. iPad magazine sales numbers show steep decline over a few short months originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Oh boy — get ready for years of competing studies and hysterical news reports claiming that 3D is either life-threateningly dangerous or perfectly safe. ( Cellphone radiation , take a backseat.) Today’s delightful round of panic comes courtesy of Nintendo’s Japanese warning guidelines for the 3DS : players are advised that 3D gameplay causes eye fatigue more quickly than 2D gaming and are told to take a break after 30 minutes of play — and you should quit immediately if you get ill, which makes sense. Nintendo also says that children under six shouldn’t use the 3D mode at all, since their eyes are still developing, and that parents can use controls built into the 3DS to lock it into 2D mode for children. Continue reading 3D is dangerous / not dangerous: Nintendo 3DS warning label edition 3D is dangerous / not dangerous: Nintendo 3DS warning label edition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The Zephyr is a winning machine. Last we reported , QinetiQ’s solar-powered drone had just completed 7-days in the air, and counting. Now, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) has confirmed that Zephyr completed that record-breaking flight with a solid 2-weeks in the air (336 hours). If that wasn’t enough to put other drones to shame, FAI found that Zephyr also destroyed records for flight duration for a UAV of its class, and the altitude record for that class at 21,562 meters, or 70,741 feet. So keep the records coming, Zephyr, because everyone loves a winner, even when that winner is a unmanned war machine. Zephyr solar-powered UAV breaks three more world records originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If you wish to raise your fist in the air and curse anyone for the massive global Skype outage , direct your anger towards 5.0.0.152. That’s the Skype for Windows version that crashed when a December 22nd cluster of support servers responsible for offline messaging became overloaded. While that’s the only version affected — the latest 5.0.0.156 and 4.0 versions were fine, as were the clients for every other platform you can think of — the number of users running point-152 globally represent 50 percent of all the users. More importantly for the other half of the world, about 25 to 30 percent of all supernodes were affected, too, whose role is establish connections, among others. So… up to 30 percent of supernodes are down worldwide. The other 70 percent were taking on the increased load. The crashed Windows clients were by and large being restarted simultaneously by affected users. All this happened just before the usual daily peak hours and during the holiday season. It’s almost a comedy of errors, were it not impossible at the time to call someone and share in the laughter. For its part, Skype goes into detail over how it fixed the current situation and how it plans to be better equipped to handle any future duress. It’s a pretty interesting read, we suggest you set some time aside and check it out. Skype outage post-mortem puts some blame on the elder Windows clients originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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All the pieces, they’re a-comin’ together. If you’ll recall, we spotted a smattering of HP Palm codenames in webOS 2.0 code early last month, and now, those very names are popping up elsewhere. Over at DirectCast, a couple of casting calls have emerged for HP Palm, with both of ‘em seeking young, carefree hipsters with lovely hands. They’re willing to pay a solid grand if you fit the profile, presumably to hold one of these impending devices on camera for some sort of advertisement. A PreCentral reader actually signed up, and then received some even more interesting information — he was informed that the shoot will involve the HP Palm Broadway, Manta and Topaz. The Broadway was indeed one of the devices spotted in the aforementioned code, and while Manta wasn’t there, “Mantaray” was. Topaz, of course, looks to be Palm’s forthcoming tablet . This is all just expanded speculation for now, but if you were holding out hope for new HP Palm products, feel free to let your imagination run wild. HP Palm Broadway, Manta and Topaz name-dropped in casting call originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It’s highly improbable that you actually need yet another option when looking for a watch band to house your iPod nano 6G , but if that first-run version you sprung for is already in tatters, HEX has a little something worth considering. The company has just started shipping its HEX Watch Band in the US of A, with $29.95 netting you a soft, flexible band that requires no complicated plug-and-play action whatsoever. Just pop your nano into the face, strap it on your arm, and roll. It’s designed to be remarkably rugged (as seen in a torture video just past the break), and the headphone socket is arranged in a way that nicely runs the cable up your arm towards your cranium. The only problem? Choosing which of the nine hues fits your personality best. Gallery: HEX iPod nano 6G watch band Continue reading HEX ships iPod nano watch band, dares you to destroy it (video) HEX ships iPod nano watch band, dares you to destroy it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If there’s one thing the 90s taught us, it’s that these silly 2D interfaces are only a passing fancy, and soon everything will be VRML-based mirror worlds of our physical space . SurfCube is a small, tentative step in that direction, turning the browser into a fake 3D experience of sorts, with favorites on “top,” and history and settings on the “sides,” while the front face of the cube is, naturally, the browser part. You can get around with swipes and flashy tilt gestures, and for $1.99 on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace it’s hard to go wrong. Just remember our VRML warning, and start investing in MicroVideoGoggles Inc. stock with your carphone once you get home from the record store. SurfCube gives Windows Phone 7 the 3D browser it needed so desperately originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Researchers eavesdrop on encrypted GSM call: all you need is a $15 phone and 180 seconds
December 29, 2010 No Comment
It’s hardly a fresh idea — researchers have claimed that GSM calls could be cracked and listened in on for years . But there’s a difference between being able to do something with a $50,000 machine and a warrant, and being able to do the same thing with a few $15 Motorola phones, a laptop, open source software and 180 seconds of spare time. Security Research Labs researcher Karsten Nohl and OsmocomBB project programmer Sylvain Munaut recently spoke about a new GSM hack at the Chaos Computer Club Congress in Berlin, and they were able to walk the audience through the eavesdropping process in a matter of minutes. According to them, it’s not terribly difficult to use a $15 handset to “sniff out” location data used to correctly route calls and texts, and once you’ve nailed that down, you could use modified firmware to feed raw data into a laptop for decryption. Using a 2TB table of precomputed encryption keys, a cracking program was able to break in within 20 seconds — after that, you’re just moments away from recording a live GSM call between two phones. Of course, speeches like these are made to encourage security officials to beef up the layers between you and ill-willed individuals, but it’s hard to say what (if anything) will change. For now, we’d recommend just flying to each and every person you’d like to speak with. Unless you live in the Greater New York area — you’re probably better off risking a hacked conversation than heading out to LGA / JFK / EWR. Researchers eavesdrop on encrypted GSM call: all you need is a $15 phone and 180 seconds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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