IBM makes racetrack memory breakthrough, which could come in handy someday
December 27, 2010 No Comment
If you can’t tell your DRAM from your STT-MRAM, you’ll need to bear with us for a sec: IBM’s figured out the math required to read and write data from the spaces between magnetic fields, racing across a nanowire, at hundreds of miles per hour. IBM’s been plugging away at the so-called racetrack memory since 2004, calling it the perfect hybrid of magnetic storage and flash, but until recently scientists didn’t know whether the magnetic domain walls (where data will live) had any mass to speak of. As it turns out, they do, and thus have to obey the tiresome laws of physics as they move along the nanowire “track,” but also accelerate and decelerate the exact same amount, more or less canceling out the effect. Long story short, IBM can use this knowledge to precisely position those 1s and 0s in their newfound data bank, and someday we’ll all reap the benefits of dense, speedy and reliable memory. You know, assuming PRAM , FeRAM , ReRAM and memristors don’t eat IBM’s lunch. PR after the break. Continue reading IBM makes racetrack memory breakthrough, which could come in handy someday IBM makes racetrack memory breakthrough, which could come in handy someday originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Apple’s iOS devices currently support just 50 languages , out of thousands that are in use globally. Soon, that figure will creep up to 51. A fresh AP report notes that Cherokee Chief Chad Smith actually visited Apple and used students currently being schooled in immersion programs to “pull at the heartstrings” of Apple’s brass, and eventually, Cupertino caved. The tribe has been working with Apple to develop Cherokee language software for the iPhone, iPod and iPad, the latter of which will purportedly become available at a later date. Naturally, this momentous occasion wouldn’t have occurred without “years” of work, and while we’re sure members of the Cherokee Nation are stoked to have the only American Indian language supported by Apple devices, this may actually serve to provide hope for others who speak less prominent tongues. All told, just 8,000 or so individuals still speak Cherokee, and most of those are aged 50 and up. But if Apple’s willing to include support for that, who knows what else it’ll become fluent in during the coming months. Apple bringing Cherokee language support to iPhone and iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …LG bringing world’s largest LED-backlit 3D LCD HDTV to CES: 72-inch LZ9700
December 27, 2010 No Comment
LG swore up and down that it would be bumping its smart TV investment to kick-start 2011, and lo and behold, it looks as if this is one New Year’s resolution that’ll be kept. The aforesaid company has just revealed that it’ll be bringing the planet’s largest LED-backlit 3D LCD HDTV to CES 2011 next week, with the LZ9700 handling both 2D and 3D content and offering TruMotion 400Hz to smooth out Cam Newton’s faster-than-fast evasion techniques. As you’d expect, this set is also outfitted with the company’s Smart TV functions, giving owners access to TV apps, games, language classes, etc. The company’s also talking up its Magic Motion Remote Control — a diddy we’ll definitely be anxious to put to the test once we land in Vegas. There’s no mention of an expected price, but it’ll be available starting in “early 2011″ for those who passed on HDI’s 100-incher . Gallery: LG’s LZ9700 72-inch 3D LCD HDTV Continue reading LG bringing world’s largest LED-backlit 3D LCD HDTV to CES: 72-inch LZ9700 LG bringing world’s largest LED-backlit 3D LCD HDTV to CES: 72-inch LZ9700 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Consider all the things you’ve bought from Amazon, all the things you wanted to, but couldn’t afford to buy from Amazon, all the wildly popular fashions and fads that have gone through that online store’s brief, but torrid history … each of those has now been overshadowed by the mighty sales of the third-generation Kindle. Jeff Bezos and team have today announced that their latest and greatest Kindle has become their bestselling product of all time, thanks in no small part to an aggressive price that’s been “low enough that people don’t have to choose,” as Jeff puts it, between an e-reader and a tablet — they’ve just gone and bought both, apparently. Alas, we’re still no closer to knowing the exact figure of Kindle sales, but who really cares at this point, the thing’s looking like a runaway success. Continue reading Amazon’s third-gen Kindle is now its bestselling product… of all time! Amazon’s third-gen Kindle is now its bestselling product… of all time! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Eutelsat’s Ka-Sat blasts off for adventure and good uplink speeds (video)
December 27, 2010 No Comment
Oh, look at you Europe, with your white Christmas blizzards and your fancy satellites. All proud and bragging as your second internet-beaming vehicle in as many months rockets off into orbital oblivion. Following November’s Hylas 1 is Ka-Sat, using the same spotbeam technology to rain down limited, focused areas of connectivity that are a couple-hundred kilometers across, allowing better management of overall satellite bandwidth. Hylas 1 used its beams to cover areas across the UK and Eastern Europe, while Ka-Sat will cover more areas of Europe and also hit parts of the Middle East. Maximum speeds offered to subscribers will be 10Mbps down, 4Mbps up, but with only 900Mbps on tap total per beam we’re thinking that could get a little slower on Saturday nights. Obligatory countdown and blastoff video below. Continue reading Eutelsat’s Ka-Sat blasts off for adventure and good uplink speeds (video) Eutelsat’s Ka-Sat blasts off for adventure and good uplink speeds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Synology DS1511+ does the 3TB-per-drive dance, backs up most of your neighborhood
December 27, 2010 No Comment
Once one network attached storage manufacturer upgraded to 3TB hard drives , it was only a matter of time before the rest followed suit, and this time it’s Synology’s turn with the DiskStation DS1511+. In case you haven’t done the math already, this particular unit can store up to 15 terabytes of your juiciest secrets across five 3TB hot-swappable drives, and its 1.8GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of memory handles a RAID 5 array capable of speeding that data across a local area network at up to 197 MB / sec read speeds and 165 MB / sec writes. If that capacity isn’t enough to house your plan for world domination and monitor all the IP cameras in your underground volcano lair, the unit can scale up to 45TB with a couple of secondary expansion units, each with five more 3TB drives of their own. Yours for roughly $900 — sans storage — wherever NAS are sold. PR after the break. Continue reading Synology DS1511+ does the 3TB-per-drive dance, backs up most of your neighborhood Synology DS1511+ does the 3TB-per-drive dance, backs up most of your neighborhood originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
One of the lesser known predictions of the Mayan calendar foretells that 2011 will be the year of NFC . The contactless communications stuff looks to be building all kinds of stream in the Western world, but don’t lose faith in your current smartphone if it doesn’t already have it. Japanese carrier Softbank has responded to complaints about the iPhone 4′s NFC deficit — the FeliCa payment system is pretty popular over in the land of sumo, sushi and sun-rising — by introducing a new “seal” for the back of Apple’s latest and greatest. It sticks on, covering almost the entire rear, but is apparently thin enough not to get in the way of using one of Apple’s own Bumpers alongside it. From our reading of the press release, the sticker doesn’t actually communicate with the iPhone, it’s just a dumb NFC card, but hey, other people don’t need to know that when you’re swiping payments with your phone, now do they? On sale in February at a price of
Continue reading …Dell’s Looking Glass tablet passes through FCC, shows off SD and SIM card slots
December 27, 2010 No Comment
Dell’s still calling this a Mobile Internet Device, but you can call it by any of its codenames: Looking Glass , M02M , iPad eviscerator , they’re all in here. Yes, the FCC has spent a month of quality time with Dell’s still unofficial, but very much upcoming , tablet and has given the go-ahead for its integrated 3G (the listed UMTS bands II, IV and V indicate compatibility with both AT&T and T-Mobile), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and 802.11n WiFi radios. Labeling for the attached (and apparently not removable) door on the back of the device indicates an SD card slot, which will sit right alongside a SIM card port. The latter will presumably be used mostly to funnel data into the Dell tablet, but voice calls aren’t completely out of the question either — there’s a (inactive) proximity sensor thrown in as well. Either way, Dell’s almost sure to launch this device, expected to feature a 7-inch screen and Tegra 2 internals, at CES next week. Dell’s Looking Glass tablet passes through FCC, shows off SD and SIM card slots originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Samsung Hub is reporting this morning that Samsung intends to introduce a new Galaxy Player to the tech gathering known as CES early next month. We’ve not been able to track down Samsung’s official word on the matter, but the Hub ‘s information details a 4-inch Super Clear LCD display with 800 x 480 resolution, Android 2.2 as the operating system (replete with Sammy’s own TouchWiz layer, by the look of that screenshot above), a 1GHz CPU, 3.2 megapixel imager on the back plus a front-facing camera, and a 1200mAh battery. Android Market access is also in the cards, apparently, but when (or if?) this most worthy successor to the Galaxy Player 50 will make its US retail debut remains a mystery for now. We’ll be sure to ask when we get our hands on the new hardware next week. Continue reading Samsung said to be bringing a 4-inch Galaxy Player to CES 2011 Samsung said to be bringing a 4-inch Galaxy Player to CES 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Ah, the joy of getting something for nothing — that’s what this time of year is all about, right? The techPowerUp! guys seem to think so, and they’ve got the perfect gift for all you thrifty PC gaming enthusiasts: a BIOS flash for the Radeon HD 6950 that unlocks the full potential of its hardware (in other words, it turns it into an HD 6970). We already knew the two retail SKUs were built on the same Cayman core, but this hack confirms that all the 6950′s performance handicaps have been enacted in software rather than hardware, leaving you all to flip a switch, click a few confirmatory dialogs, and get your game on. You should be aware that the retail 6970 card uses an 8-pin and a 6-pin connector for its auxiliary power whereas the 6950 only has a pair of 6-pin intakes, which might cause trouble under extreme loads, and there’s also the fact that you’ll most likely be hacking your warranty away together with your GPU’s limitations. But hey, you can’t make eggnog without cracking a few eggs. AMD Radeon HD 6950 can be turned into an HD 6970 using a BIOS hack originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …