Archive for March, 2010.
Can’t wait for Windows Phone 7 Series, but can’t hack the emulator, either? Don’t lose hope, Windows junkies — you can still bring some semblance of WP7S order into your life with this Metro UI-inspired desktop HUD. Based on the open-source desktop customization platform Rainmeter, the “Omnimo UI” will overlay your desktop with a minimalist, tiled interface not unlike the one you’ve been drooling over for weeks, with live hooks into many useful services (including Gmail, iTunes, Steam, Twitter and SpeedFan) as well as the usual widgets and a host of program shortcuts. The best news of all? It’s available now for all versions of Windows since XP, completely free of charge; simply follow the source links or flit over to Lifehacker, where good folks will teach you how it’s done.
Omnimo: desktop Windows given fashion makeover with Phone 7 Series flair originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Clearwire has made it crystal clear that it isn’t taking a “WiMAX or die” approach to 4G — and frankly, it couldn’t afford to, considering that the infrastructure suppliers and hardware manufacturers could easily continue their trend toward shunning the next-gen underdog. What’s interesting, though, is that the company now appears to be taking a very active role in developing an LTE-based standard that could supplant WiMAX in its 2.6GHz spectrum should the need arise. Along with Motorola, Huawei, ZTE, Cisco, Nokia Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, and — surprise, surprise — Clearwire partner Sprint, the company is asking the 3GPP to define a standard for running TD-LTE in the 2.6GHz slot. Unlike the more commonly-used FD-LTE — the standard Verizon is using, among others — TD-LTE operates unpaired, meaning it can operate in slimmer chunks of spectrum than its counterpart. Asking for a standard is clearly a far cry from actually building out a network, but it’s interesting to note that Clearwire and Sprint alike both have their eyes firmly fixed on an LTE-based technology if the WiMAX industry packs it in.
Sprint, Clearwire among companies asking for TD-LTE standard in WiMAX spectrum originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably been keeping pretty close tabs on EATR, the biomass-to-power robot that’s been making people nervous for some time now. Well, EATR’s engine — which is being built by Cyclone Power Technologies — is complete, and the drone is now one giant leap closer to living in actual reality with us. The completed steam engine, called WHE, is a six-cylinder external heat engine which can generate up to 18 horsepower of mechanical power. As previously clarified by EATR’s makers (a project that’s getting help from the University of Maryland and DARPA), the robot will not feed on things like animals… or humans. No, this is no zombified drone — EATR will harvest only plant matter for energy — which, if you ask us, makes the whole thing much more mundane. Regardless, we’ll be keeping our eyes on this project as it moves forward. The full press release is after the break.
Continue reading EATR’s engine officially complete, and this robot’s one step closer to reality
EATR’s engine officially complete, and this robot’s one step closer to reality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
Call it Apple’s populist paradox. The Macintosh’s human-centered design inspired its being called the “computer for the rest of us,” but the Mac also long been associated with exceptional creative individuals, a message Apple has driven home in campaigns ranging from “wheels from the mind” to “think different.” In the early days of the Web, it was said that Web pages were created on Macs and viewed on PCs — and served on Unix workstations.
Should the concepts in a video detailing a new Microsoft-developed device dubbed Courier come to fruition, though, Microsoft and Apple may find themselves on unfamilair sides as an old rivalry turns to the new frontier of convergence tablets, with Apple providing the workaday access product and Microsoft providing a niche but empowering tool aimed at creative professionals.
Continue reading Switched On: Courier courts the creative
Switched On: Courier courts the creative originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iBuyPower’s back with a refresh to its simple, yet understated 15-inch touchscreen gaming notebook. The Battalion Touch CZ-11, newly announced today, features a Intel Core i7 processor, ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics, a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) multitouch display, 4GB memory, 500GB storage, WiFi b/g/n, and optional Blu-ray — not too shabby, right? Prices start at $1,100 and climbs skyward fast — hit the source link to see for yourself. And don’t worry — the flames are optional. PR after the break.
Continue reading Battalion Touch CZ-11 multitouch gaming laptop gets Core i7 processor, keeps things classy
Battalion Touch CZ-11 multitouch gaming laptop gets Core i7 processor, keeps things classy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, finally smashed two beams of protons together at high speed on Tuesday after a couple of failed starts. CERN was trying to get the two proton beams to collide at an energy level of 7 trillion electron volts, but problems with the electrical system forced the scientists to reset the system and try again. The experiment succeeded shortly after 1 p.m. central European summer time. CERN will run the collider for 18 to 24 months.
Facebook is proposing another round of changes to its privacy policy. The updates are meant to better explain certain features, said Facebook Deputy General Counsel Michael Richter in a blog post — such as why an invitation that a non-users receives to join Facebook might include the names of persons other than the one who sent the invitation. (It’s because those people have imported their own contact lists to Facebook, and their lists include the invited person’s email address, he said). Some of the proposed changes are raising hackles in the privacy community.
Technologists tend to think of so-called smart cities as being tied together by technology. Their focus is on using technology to change our lives and make cities more efficient and smarter. The problem with this approach is that it only focuses on making application management more efficient and tying applications together. Ants are efficient, and their nest’s structure ties them together quite well. There are sections for worker ants, soldier ants, larvae and the queen, and they emit chemicals to tell each other what to do and where they have located food.
Though the iPhone, iPod touch and imminent iPad all sport a full browser and much-touted Web capabilities, video has been the sticking point. Much to some Web site publishers’ frustration, Apple doesn’t support Flash-based video playback, which limits what types of streaming content the users of these devices can view, whether through 3G or WiFi connections. It’s a situation MacCast’s publisher and producer Adam Christianson has dubbed “The Great Flash War of 2010.” Now Brightcove a video publishing tool that works using the common Internet protocol HTML5.
In what will surely be a blow to Linux fans the world over, Sony is dropping support for the open operating system on its PlayStation 3, citing security concerns. The move will take effect Thursday with the release of a firmware update to version 3.21. That new version will disable the “Install Other OS” feature that was available on older PS3 systems — those released prior to the current slimmer models that launched last September. PS3 users won’t be required to upgrade to the new software. Those who choose not to, however, will miss out on several key features.
