Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Galaxy Player 4.0 review
By Terrence O'Brien 
posted Dec 12th 2011 10:00AM 
Apple users have the iPod touch, but what about Android fans? Where do they turn when looking for an app-running, connected media player -- basically a smartphone without the phone? Well, believe it or not, there are a few options out there (like the Philips GoGear and Cowon's D3) And one of the premier lines is certainly Samsung's Galaxy Player offerings which, as the name implies, borrow a few things from their beloved cellphone siblings. There's both a 4.0 ($230) and a 5.0 ($270) model which have four- and five-inch screens, respectively, but, besides the size, the two are practically identical in the specs department. We toyed with the smaller Galaxy Player 4.0 for a couple of weeks and our thoughts on Sammy's (somewhat pricier) answer to the iPod touch are right after the break.
Looking at the Galaxy Player 4.0, it's clear where its roots lie. It'd be easy to mistake its silver-garnished bezel and curved plastic back for a white variant of T-Mobile's Galaxy S (or, for the more cynical amongst you, a white iPhone 3GS). It is, sadly, just as bulky as those now aging devices and just as plasticky. Samsung's build quality isn't always our favorite, but we're used to it. Still, we were shocked by just how cheap it felt. The shiny plastic and tacky chrome made it feel like a KIRF -- not the premier media player from the company behind some of our favorite Android handsets. While a tad on the large size it wasn't uncomfortable to hold or carry in a pocket -- at least no more so than a 4-inch smartphone. It might seem bulky compared to some of the tinier (non-touchscreen) media players out there, but if you're moving on from a dying iPod classic you wont notice the size. On the other hand, carrying both a smartphone and the Player seemed excessive and took up quite a bit of pocket space. Especially since it doesn't offer any advantages, where as going with a dedicated hard drive based player at least offers an obvious advantage in storage capacity.
Most of the front of the device is taken up by the four-inch 800 x 480 Super Clear LCD screen which, while not quite as stunning as the Super AMOLED Plus panels on its relatives, is still a pretty decent display. Colors are bright with plenty of eye-popping contrast and viewing angles are excellent, though black levels do leave something to be desired. The WVGA resolution is expected, but still a bit of a letdown. As a device primarily meant for media consumption we'd expect that Sammy would want to deliver the best visuals possible and, although it's good, it's not quite great. And the difference between those two things is glaringly obvious when you place the Player 4.0 next to its extremely pixel-dense, Apple-branded competitor. That being said, we did find watching video on the four-inch Samsung much easier on the eyes than squinting at the 3.5-inch panel on Apple's devices. We still wouldn't want to sit through a feature length film, but a half-hour episode of 30 Rock was pleasant enough.
Speaking of that Exynos 3110 processor and half-gig of RAM, they still provide plenty of power for handling most day to day tasks. The average Quadrant score of 1,651 puts it in a league with the aging, but adequate Droid X and the somewhat disappointing Rhyme. In fact, even though specs never tell the whole story, the Galaxy Player 4.0 actually sports more powerful silicon than the latest iPod touch which rocks an 800MHz single-core chip and just 256MB of RAM. But, as we all know, iOS is fine-tuned to take advantage of the provided hardware -- that's not always the case with Android. We ran the Player through our usual barrage of benchmarks and it performed about as well as you'd expect given its year-old hardware, scoring just 17.64 in single-threaded Linpack and averaging just 50fps in Nenamark (Nenamark 2 refused to run).
Being a media player it's not just important, but crucial, that the Galaxy player impress when it came to sound quality. Sadly, we found ourselves let down at every turn. The pair of speakers on the back of the device are all but useless. They're tinny, not particularly loud and prone to distortion when the volume is cranked past the half-way mark. When you plug in headphones things get better, but not much. While the sound is clear and not in the slightest bit muddy, it's distinctly lacking in low-end and much quieter than the competition. We pitted it against an iPhone 4, a fifth-gen iPod classic and a Droid X -- we preferred the sound of all three to the Galaxy Player. Both the six-year-old iPod and the iPhone produced more balanced audio, with equal clarity and much more punch, while the Droid X was a bit muddier to our ears, but made up for it with a more satisfying low-end and decibel levels that put the Player to shame. Then again, if you're the kind of guy who turns the bass all the way down on your equalizer and you're seriously worried about hearing loss, this might just be the PMP for you.
Cameras, the Player 4.0's got 'em. That's about all the positive things we have to say about that. The front-facing VGA cam is fine for the occasional video chat, but the 3.2 megapixel autofocus shooter around back leaves something to be desired. Color reproduction was decent and, considering the pixel count, quality was decent. But, even images taken outside during the day were noisy and chances are you could manually focus a DSLR in less time than this thing lock on its target. Perhaps we've been spoiled by the 8MP sensors on most modern smartphones, but we couldn't imagine using this camera unless we absolutely had to. Video recording isn't much better. Clips were dark, soft and being only 720 x 480 didn't help matters. The low-res video capture was particularly confusing since even the abysmal shooter on the iPod touch is capable or 720p. Audio recording was acceptable -- we were able to hear ourselves narrating over a busy street, but wasn't anything to write home about.
All this hardware is running atop Gingerbread and, of course, TouchWiz. But this is not the less maligned version found on Sammy's recent handsets. No, no, no. This is 3.0 -- the same candy-colored skin found on the original Galaxy S. (Noticing a trend yet?) Thankfully, the device is pretty free of bloatware. Samsung has included its own app store, ThinkFree Office and a few simple apps like a diary, FM radio, memo pad and a social hub, but the PMP is relatively crap-free on first boot. The default music and video playing apps are slight improvements over their vanilla Android counterparts and we especially appreciate the 7-band customizable EQ for the music player. That being said, they're quite basic and there are much better options available in the market, including Google Music and DoubleTwist. Then again, that's the beauty of Android -- you can pretty much customize it to fit your every whim. Hate TouchWiz? Try LauncherPro or GO Launcher EX. Don't like the default music app? Give Winamp a go. And let's not forget the wealth of messaging options at your disposal, including Google Voice for sending texts and Skype for video chats. Access to the wealth of apps in the Android market is perhaps the Player's strongest selling point. Its competitor out of Cupertino also has a vast app catalog, but iOS doesn't have the same flexibility and deep integration with other services that Android has. Using widgets, swapping home screens and using the media player of your choice is just really just scratching the surface.
posted Dec 12th 2011 10:00AM Apple users have the iPod touch, but what about Android fans? Where do they turn when looking for an app-running, connected media player -- basically a smartphone without the phone? Well, believe it or not, there are a few options out there (like the Philips GoGear and Cowon's D3) And one of the premier lines is certainly Samsung's Galaxy Player offerings which, as the name implies, borrow a few things from their beloved cellphone siblings. There's both a 4.0 ($230) and a 5.0 ($270) model which have four- and five-inch screens, respectively, but, besides the size, the two are practically identical in the specs department. We toyed with the smaller Galaxy Player 4.0 for a couple of weeks and our thoughts on Sammy's (somewhat pricier) answer to the iPod touch are right after the break.Looking at the Galaxy Player 4.0, it's clear where its roots lie. It'd be easy to mistake its silver-garnished bezel and curved plastic back for a white variant of T-Mobile's Galaxy S (or, for the more cynical amongst you, a white iPhone 3GS). It is, sadly, just as bulky as those now aging devices and just as plasticky. Samsung's build quality isn't always our favorite, but we're used to it. Still, we were shocked by just how cheap it felt. The shiny plastic and tacky chrome made it feel like a KIRF -- not the premier media player from the company behind some of our favorite Android handsets. While a tad on the large size it wasn't uncomfortable to hold or carry in a pocket -- at least no more so than a 4-inch smartphone. It might seem bulky compared to some of the tinier (non-touchscreen) media players out there, but if you're moving on from a dying iPod classic you wont notice the size. On the other hand, carrying both a smartphone and the Player seemed excessive and took up quite a bit of pocket space. Especially since it doesn't offer any advantages, where as going with a dedicated hard drive based player at least offers an obvious advantage in storage capacity.
The backplate is one large glossy piece of white polymer that snaps on and off to reveal the removable 1,200mAh battery (the 5.0 bumps that to a stunning 2,500mAh) and microSD slot. Also around back is the 3.2 megapixel camera and a pair of speakers. The edges of the device are littered with your usual assortment of ports and keys, with the reasonably solid volume rocker on the left and the power button on the right. Up top is the all-important headphone jack and the micro USB port, which is hidden under a strange and flimsy feeling sliding door. The front of the device is home to the ear piece, for placing VoIP calls, a VGA camera and the trio of capacitive buttons found on most Samsung handsets (i.e., no search button here).
Most of the front of the device is taken up by the four-inch 800 x 480 Super Clear LCD screen which, while not quite as stunning as the Super AMOLED Plus panels on its relatives, is still a pretty decent display. Colors are bright with plenty of eye-popping contrast and viewing angles are excellent, though black levels do leave something to be desired. The WVGA resolution is expected, but still a bit of a letdown. As a device primarily meant for media consumption we'd expect that Sammy would want to deliver the best visuals possible and, although it's good, it's not quite great. And the difference between those two things is glaringly obvious when you place the Player 4.0 next to its extremely pixel-dense, Apple-branded competitor. That being said, we did find watching video on the four-inch Samsung much easier on the eyes than squinting at the 3.5-inch panel on Apple's devices. We still wouldn't want to sit through a feature length film, but a half-hour episode of 30 Rock was pleasant enough.
Inside Samsung's Gingerbread-powered media player is essentially a Galaxy S. And, yes, you read that right -- Galaxy S. There is no "II" at the end of that title. The brains of the operation is a 1GHz single-core Hummingbird CPU with 512MB of RAM to help it along the way. There's also an accelerometer and a gyroscope inside, alongside 8GB of storage (which can be expanded via micro SD) and a CMOS sensor for capturing 3.2 megapixel images. Then there are the radios, including an 802.11n connection, BlueTooth and GPS.
Speaking of that Exynos 3110 processor and half-gig of RAM, they still provide plenty of power for handling most day to day tasks. The average Quadrant score of 1,651 puts it in a league with the aging, but adequate Droid X and the somewhat disappointing Rhyme. In fact, even though specs never tell the whole story, the Galaxy Player 4.0 actually sports more powerful silicon than the latest iPod touch which rocks an 800MHz single-core chip and just 256MB of RAM. But, as we all know, iOS is fine-tuned to take advantage of the provided hardware -- that's not always the case with Android. We ran the Player through our usual barrage of benchmarks and it performed about as well as you'd expect given its year-old hardware, scoring just 17.64 in single-threaded Linpack and averaging just 50fps in Nenamark (Nenamark 2 refused to run).
We've gotta give Sammy credit, though, it promised five hours of video playback and it delivered. In our standard battery drain test, which loops a video with the screen at 50 percent brightness, it actually managed five hours and 23 minutes. That doesn't exactly make this PMP an ultra marathoner -- but it's always nice to see a company deliver the battery life it promises -- something that's an unfortunate rarity in the gadget world. Then again, that doesn't really put it very far ahead of many LTE smartphones on the market, which aren't known for their stellar longevity.
Being a media player it's not just important, but crucial, that the Galaxy player impress when it came to sound quality. Sadly, we found ourselves let down at every turn. The pair of speakers on the back of the device are all but useless. They're tinny, not particularly loud and prone to distortion when the volume is cranked past the half-way mark. When you plug in headphones things get better, but not much. While the sound is clear and not in the slightest bit muddy, it's distinctly lacking in low-end and much quieter than the competition. We pitted it against an iPhone 4, a fifth-gen iPod classic and a Droid X -- we preferred the sound of all three to the Galaxy Player. Both the six-year-old iPod and the iPhone produced more balanced audio, with equal clarity and much more punch, while the Droid X was a bit muddier to our ears, but made up for it with a more satisfying low-end and decibel levels that put the Player to shame. Then again, if you're the kind of guy who turns the bass all the way down on your equalizer and you're seriously worried about hearing loss, this might just be the PMP for you.
It's not surprising then that the included headphones piled on the bass pretty heavily. Actually, it wasn't until we swapped out those buds for some higher-end phones that we really noticed the weak bass response when compared to the other players. That being said, the white buds that come packed with the Player are not bad at all. No, they can't hold a candle to what you could pick up for only $50 in any reasonably serious electronics or audio shop, but they're light years beyond a certain iconic, tiny and uncomfortable set of pale plastic ear pieces.
Cameras, the Player 4.0's got 'em. That's about all the positive things we have to say about that. The front-facing VGA cam is fine for the occasional video chat, but the 3.2 megapixel autofocus shooter around back leaves something to be desired. Color reproduction was decent and, considering the pixel count, quality was decent. But, even images taken outside during the day were noisy and chances are you could manually focus a DSLR in less time than this thing lock on its target. Perhaps we've been spoiled by the 8MP sensors on most modern smartphones, but we couldn't imagine using this camera unless we absolutely had to. Video recording isn't much better. Clips were dark, soft and being only 720 x 480 didn't help matters. The low-res video capture was particularly confusing since even the abysmal shooter on the iPod touch is capable or 720p. Audio recording was acceptable -- we were able to hear ourselves narrating over a busy street, but wasn't anything to write home about.
All this hardware is running atop Gingerbread and, of course, TouchWiz. But this is not the less maligned version found on Sammy's recent handsets. No, no, no. This is 3.0 -- the same candy-colored skin found on the original Galaxy S. (Noticing a trend yet?) Thankfully, the device is pretty free of bloatware. Samsung has included its own app store, ThinkFree Office and a few simple apps like a diary, FM radio, memo pad and a social hub, but the PMP is relatively crap-free on first boot. The default music and video playing apps are slight improvements over their vanilla Android counterparts and we especially appreciate the 7-band customizable EQ for the music player. That being said, they're quite basic and there are much better options available in the market, including Google Music and DoubleTwist. Then again, that's the beauty of Android -- you can pretty much customize it to fit your every whim. Hate TouchWiz? Try LauncherPro or GO Launcher EX. Don't like the default music app? Give Winamp a go. And let's not forget the wealth of messaging options at your disposal, including Google Voice for sending texts and Skype for video chats. Access to the wealth of apps in the Android market is perhaps the Player's strongest selling point. Its competitor out of Cupertino also has a vast app catalog, but iOS doesn't have the same flexibility and deep integration with other services that Android has. Using widgets, swapping home screens and using the media player of your choice is just really just scratching the surface.
On the other hand, media management is a nightmare. There is no default tool for easily loading or syncing music of video to the Galaxy Player. In fact, when you plug it into a computer it simply offers you the option to enter USB mass storage mode. Being able to copy your files manually to it is nice, but without an easy syncing option out of the box Samsung starts at a serious disadvantage. There's not even a market place included for purchasing new tunes. Now, you could download Google Music or Amazon MP3, which provide bothing syncing and shopping solutions, or DoubleTwist which, when combined with the $5 AirSync, provides the most seamless syncing solution we've seen on Android. But, having to go search these things out is not something most consumers will want to do with their brand new PMP.
Even if the Galaxy Player 4.0 existed in a vacuum we'd have a hard time getting excited about it. When positioned as the Android answer to the iPod touch, things go from bad to worse. Even its strengths ultimately become weaknesses when placed next to its competitors. Its Super Clear LCD display is nice, but it's nowhere near as crisp as the Retina Display on the Apple's touchscreen media player. Taking pixel density out of the equation -- it still can't stand up to the abyss-like blacks of the Super AMOLED Plus display on the Galaxy S II. That expandable storage sounds nice until you realize that even if you max it out with a 32GB microSD card you're only looking at 40GB -- 24GB less than the high-end iPod Touch. And, yes, we know a Galaxy Player 4.0 and a 32GB microSD card would cost much less than the $400 top-of-the-line touch but, the truth is, most people don't want to go out buy (then swap) a microSD card. Out of the box an entry level touch offers the same storage for just $200. Even the user-replaceable battery doesn't seem like such a great thing when it adds so much bulk and (at least according to the manufacturers) lasts two hours less than Apple's device when playing video. Even its one clear and decisive victory -- its camera -- isn't really a selling point. It's just that the shooter on the iPod touch is that bad.
Ultimately here's the pitch for the Galaxy Player: it's got expandable storage, a removable battery and runs Android for those of you who don't care for iOS. Android does allow you to customize the player to your heart's content -- and that's definitely a very, very strong point in Sammy's favor -- but is that enough to compensate for the rest of its short comings, especially the seriously disappointing audio? And for $30 more than the 8GB iPod touch? Not even close.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
New quantum tunneling transistors to make PCs less power-hungry
By Chris Barylick posted Dec 12th 2011 3:03PM 
Yes, that awesome new 8-core chip in your PC is the fastest thing on the block, but it's got your utility meter spinning accordingly. Fortunately, researchers from Penn State have come up with a new high performance transistor that may turn future chips from power hogs into current-sipping silicon. The group, in cooperation with semiconductor manufacturer IQE, has created a high-performance transistor capable of significantly reducing power demand whether it's idle or switching. Doctoral candidate Dheeraj Mohata's the one who made it happen by inventing an alternative to traditional MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) technology capable of turning on and off using far less power. Mohata's method uses a tunneling field effect transistor crafted from dissimilar semiconductor materials to provide instant on-off capability at 300 millivolts -- compared to MOSFET's one volt requirement -- to provide a power savings of 70 percent. You can dig deeper into the technical transistor details at the source, but all you really need to know is that the ladies love a PC with paltry power consumption.
posted Dec 12th 2011 3:03PM Yes, that awesome new 8-core chip in your PC is the fastest thing on the block, but it's got your utility meter spinning accordingly. Fortunately, researchers from Penn State have come up with a new high performance transistor that may turn future chips from power hogs into current-sipping silicon. The group, in cooperation with semiconductor manufacturer IQE, has created a high-performance transistor capable of significantly reducing power demand whether it's idle or switching. Doctoral candidate Dheeraj Mohata's the one who made it happen by inventing an alternative to traditional MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) technology capable of turning on and off using far less power. Mohata's method uses a tunneling field effect transistor crafted from dissimilar semiconductor materials to provide instant on-off capability at 300 millivolts -- compared to MOSFET's one volt requirement -- to provide a power savings of 70 percent. You can dig deeper into the technical transistor details at the source, but all you really need to know is that the ladies love a PC with paltry power consumption.
Nook Color gets multimedia upgrade, further blurs the tablet battle lines
Barnes & Noble's Award-Winning $199 NOOK Color Now Even Better with Streaming Entertainment and More Breathtaking Content in VividView
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, continues to enhance its critically acclaimed NOOK Color with the largest-ever software update to the device now available at no cost (www.nookcolor.com/update), adding over 100 feature enhancements, access to top video and music services, popular apps, comics and more. With new tablet features and access to the best names in entertainment, the first-ever Reader's Tablet™ is now even better at the incredibly low price of $199. Customers can enjoy popular movies and TV shows through leading services like Netflix and Flixster, with others coming soon. The update also brings faster, easier access to the world's largest digital catalog of color and interactive books, magazines, children's books, high-quality apps, and now comics and graphic novels.
The perfect holiday gift for those who love to experience all types of content in rich, beautiful color on the world's most advanced VividView™ display, NOOK Color is available for new customers to purchase immediately in NOOK Digital Shops™ at their neighborhood Barnes & Noble stores, www.nookcolor.com and other leading retailers. Today only, customers who purchase any new $199 NOOK Color online with a MasterCard will receive a free $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card, along with free shipping. This offer also applies to the #1-rated $99 NOOK Simple Touch™, and the all-new $249 NOOK Tablet™, the company's fastest, lightest tablet with the best entertainment displayed in stunning VividView. Additional details are available at www.nook.com.
"Building upon our award-winning reading experience and vast digital content catalog, we are excited to offer our largest NOOK Color software update ever that will bring access to movies, TV shows, hundreds of new apps, comics, graphic novels and more to our time-tested, critically acclaimed Reader's Tablet," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "This innovative product continues to receive high acclaim as an Editor's Choice and is ranked among the most highly rated eReaders by many leading technology reviewers. At the incredibly low price of $199, customers can discover all types of interactive content specifically designed for the stunning, 7-inch display, in addition to staying connected through email and the web. We encourage customers to stop by their local Barnes & Noble this holiday season to learn about the whole portfolio of NOOK devices and receive free support from one of our highly-trained NOOKsellers."
More High-Quality NOOK Apps™, Including Top Entertainment Services
Adding to the growing collection of high-quality NOOK Apps, children's apps, games and more, NOOK Color customers can download Netflix to watch movies and TV shows, and Flixster which, through the UltraViolet™ standard, will allow consumers to access their digital movies and TV shows on the go. Coming soon, more leading services will be available. NOOK Color owners can also listen to millions of songs using the hottest music services, including Pandora, Rhapsody®, Grooveshark and MOG, all available with a free 14-day trial. In addition, NOOK Color owners can listen to their own songs wherever they go with the built-in music player. From music to movies and more, all NOOK Apps are the highest-quality versions available, optimized for NOOK Color's beautiful and ultra-responsive 7-inch VividView display to ensure a stunning and seamless user experience.
The NOOK App library continues to grow with hundreds of new titles added each week to bring all the top requested and most popular apps to both NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet. Exciting new NOOK App additions include games published by Chillingo such as Roll in the Hole and Spider Jack, I Can Read, Cozi Family Organizer, Audobon Insects, Pat the Bunny, and more. Enjoy fun new holiday-themed apps including How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Tacky's Christmas – all with a special reduced pricing promotion for the holidays. Also, find All I Want from Santa, Emma In: A Sweet Christmas plus an extensive lineup of holiday-centric live wallpapers, themes and much more.
Barnes & Noble's Vast Collection of Interactive Content at Your Fingertips
NOOK Color customers can shop the world's largest bookstore, featuring more than 2.5 million books, enhanced books, interactive magazines, newspapers, children's books, and now comics and graphic novels. Highlights include:
NOOK Newsstand™: Choose from more than 300 newspapers and full-color, interactive magazines, delivered instantly to the device. Barnes & Noble offers the largest digital collection of top 100 magazines for subscription or single issue purchase – all available for a risk-free, 14-day free trial – including bestsellers PEOPLE, Food Network Magazine, Us Weekly, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, TIME, National Geographic and many others. Most interactive magazines offer Barnes & Noble's ArticleView™, new animated and lightning fast page turns, smooth pinch, zoom and panning. Many special edition NOOK Magazines™ feature videos, animation, image galleries and more. Newly added publications include People StyleWatch, Southern Living, SmartMoney, Official Xbox Magazine, WIRED, SELF and TransWorld Skateboarding with more titles being added each week.
New NOOK Comics™: NOOK Color customers can now access a large collection of full-color comics, graphic novels and kids' comics in high resolution that allow readers to pinch, zoom and discover this content like never before. NOOK Comics features the largest digital collection of Marvel's graphic novels available through a third party – including Halo Uprising and other Marvel greats like Ultimate Spider-Man, The Astonishing X-Men, and Hulk: Planet Hulk, among others. NOOK Color customers can also enjoy titles from other leading publishers, including Archie – with series starring the redheaded star, plus pals Jughead and Betty & Veronica– IDW and Dynamite.
NOOK Kids™: With an incredible collection of more than 1,000 interactive children's picture books and more than 12,000 chapter books, NOOK Color offers the world's largest digital selection with hundreds of titles offering enhanced Read to Me and Read to Play functionality, so children and parents can interact with built-in narration and engaging in-page animation and activities. Newly added popular titles for the holidays include A Charlie Brown Christmas and Elf on the Shelf, both only on NOOK with engaging narrations and entertaining activities built right in to the stories, plus an exclusive edition of Sandra Boynton's Christmas Parade, narrated by the author. Beginning readers can also enjoy new I Can Read series titles, plus Judy Blume's popular Fudge series including Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and many more through the expanded chapter book collection.
NOOK Books™: Barnes & Noble continues to expand its NOOK Bookstore™ with the vast majority of books available for $9.99 or less. New PagePerfect™ NOOK Books™ feature cookbooks, craft and art books rendered with rich precision to retain all the beauty of their stunning print versions. Customers can also enjoy new titles including 11/22/63 from Stephen King and Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch, or bestsellers including Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich, Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and many more.
Enhanced Reading Experience Makes it Easier than Ever to Find New Great Content
NOOK Color customers can now explore new reading experiences and Shop enhancements that make it easier than ever to find great books, children's content, magazines, newspapers and apps. Simply tap to open the redesigned NOOK Store to find a clean, customized interface and great social features that showcase the vast amount of content available. Explore customized reading features to enjoy all your favorite content like never before.
Customized reading: In response to customer feedback, NOOK Color now offers the flexibility to read books in portrait or landscape mode and to adjust the text with even more font sizes to choose from. And now reading is even more interactive with PDF thumbnail page views, and image pinch, zoom and pan in books and PDFs.
Unparalleled reviews and recommendations: Learn what to read next from Barnes & Noble's knowledgeable booksellers, from new releases to up-and-coming authors. Barnes & Noble's personalized NOOK Recommendations™ suggest titles by customer's favorite authors in many different categories – helping them find selections in all subjects, from the most popular to hidden gems. In any book a customer is reading, a simple tap on the new NOOK Discover™ icon offers instant recommendations. Customers can also find new content through:
NOOK Daily Find – Discover a new read every day at an amazing price.
NOOK First – Exclusive content for NOOK owners from leading authors.
NOOK Snaps – Bite-size reads for "snackable" content on the go.
NOOK Spotlight – Twice a month, Barnes & Noble features great books at a great price.
New Release Tuesday – The weekly scoop on the bestsellers and the newest releases.
Get more social: With NOOK Color, customers can connect with Facebook friends and others through NOOK Friends™, and find out what they have to say about their books, magazines and newspapers. Customers can also share their thoughts about the books they're reading via email, Facebook and Twitter. Owners can share books, as well as browse and borrow books, from NOOK Friends using Barnes & Noble's exclusive LendMe® technology.
Continuous reading: Read what you love, anywhere you like™ on NOOK devices and with free NOOK Reading Apps. NOOK Cloud™ automatically syncs a customer's library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across all of their devices, so a customer can start a book on NOOK Color, and pick right back up where they left off on their computer or smartphone.
Friday, 10 February 2012
Sony Ericsson Xperia Nozomi spotted out again, can't help but get its photo taken
By Mat Smith posted Dec 12th 2011 9:29AM
posted Dec 12th 2011 9:29AM 
Sony Ericsson's forthcoming flagship was already looking like a very handsome slice of smartphone, but it's even more dashing in these thankfully crystal-clear shots. This latest leak give us a nice close-up of the matte-finished monolith, showing off a dedicated camera button, HDMI port, built-in battery and the conspicuous absence of microSD storage. The LT26i is rumored to possess a 720 x 1280 resolution spread across a 4.3-inch touchscreen, with a dual-core processor behind it. Sony Ericsson also looks to have finally taken the plunge with front-facing shooters, with an as-yet unspecified camera embedded above the screen, while a stylish glassy button bar below seems to run right through the device. Take a peak at the still-codenamed Nozomi -- uncovered -- after the break, or check out a full 360-degree runaround at the source below.
[Thanks everyone]
More EXOdesk details spill: at least two models in the works, ViewSonic wants in
By Terrence O'Brien posted Dec 12th 2011 4:15AM 
Sadly, we'll still have to wait for CES to leave fingerprints allover the EXOdesk, but at least we've got a few more details to hold us over till then. For one, we now know that ExoPC has two models in the works -- one that's simply an external display and another that integrates a complete Core i7 computer running Windows 7. Apps specifically designed for the EXOdesk, coded in HTML5, will be available from the EXOstore. The company has already announced a number of planned programs, including a news reader, virtual keyboards, board games and musical instruments. It also looks like ViewSonic will be demoing its own 32-inch flavor of EXOdesk at CES, though whether or not the company actually plans to sell such a device remains a mystery. Check out the source link for a few more images.
posted Dec 12th 2011 4:15AM Sadly, we'll still have to wait for CES to leave fingerprints allover the EXOdesk, but at least we've got a few more details to hold us over till then. For one, we now know that ExoPC has two models in the works -- one that's simply an external display and another that integrates a complete Core i7 computer running Windows 7. Apps specifically designed for the EXOdesk, coded in HTML5, will be available from the EXOstore. The company has already announced a number of planned programs, including a news reader, virtual keyboards, board games and musical instruments. It also looks like ViewSonic will be demoing its own 32-inch flavor of EXOdesk at CES, though whether or not the company actually plans to sell such a device remains a mystery. Check out the source link for a few more images.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Caption Contest: Blue shells can't slow Miyamoto down
By Tim Stevens posted Dec 11th 2011 10:27PM 
Monumentally important game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto made waves this week by saying he was / wasn't retiring from duties at Nintendo. There's been plenty of confusion regarding what his new duties at the company will entail, but this image makes it pretty clear. All hail Nintendo's new shopping mall test driver.
posted Dec 11th 2011 10:27PM Monumentally important game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto made waves this week by saying he was / wasn't retiring from duties at Nintendo. There's been plenty of confusion regarding what his new duties at the company will entail, but this image makes it pretty clear. All hail Nintendo's new shopping mall test driver. Tim: "I'm developing a new power-up. It's called Golden Parachute."
Richard Lai: "I once gave Kaz's ex a ride on this."
Myriam: "I guess the shrink ray finally works."
James: "The new Hotel Lobby level proved a success"
Billy: "What? At least it's a hybrid."
Mat: Miyamoto looks forward to exhibiting at next year's Tokyo Motor Show.
Brian: "Miyamoto had an important message to impart on the youth of today: do enough magic mushrooms, and you're going to end up driving your car through a mall food court."
Sean: A clean shave and a suit jacket revealed far more than Mario had ever intended. "Well," he thought, "at least I can still keep the 'M' logo."
Jon: "In movie news: Photos from the 'lost camera' sequence in the upcoming The Hangover III started surfacing today..."
Darren: "You should see what happens when I get Star Power."
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Must See HDTV (December 12th - 18th)
This week sees even more shows saying goodbye before a holiday break, but as usual cable and reality TV are around to try to pick up the slack. While Fear Factor returns on network TV, Discovery fans can check out the season premiere of Dirty Jobs. The Blu-ray release schedule has a little something for everyone as well, with cult classic The Rocketeer joining City of God and two very different 3D flicks in Kung Fu Panda 2 and Fright Night. Check below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listings of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. City of God
When Lionsgate announced its deal to distribute Miramax's movies in the US, long delayed Blu-ray releases like Pulp Fiction (deservedly) received a lion's share of the attention, but this week another one of our favorites, City of God, emerges from the vaults at last. Released in 2002 and previously available in HD internationally, this Brazilian flick tells the story of two boys growing up in Brazil's slums as one grows up to lead one of the local gangs and the other becomes a photographer. A crime epic on par with any of the other classics, it has characters that will stick with you long after the movie is over, and has a story that unfolds with more layers than can be described in this space. If you're not familiar, check out the trailer after the break.
(December 13th, $14.99 on Amazon)
Fear Factor
One of the shows that started off the reality TV craze is back this week, as Fear Factor returns on NBC. Airing for the first time in HD, host Joe Rogan will once again cajole, encourage and tease a group of contestants through a series of increasingly gross / thrilling / dangerous stunts until they are eliminated. High-brow entertainment it ain't, but it can still be a fun watch. Check out a trailer showing what's in store this season embedded after the break.
(December 12th, NBC, 8 & 9PM)
Always Sunny in Philadelphia
This week sees the season finale of Always Sunny, and as usual the gang is up to no good. This is the second of a two-part episode as they attend a high school reunion, and to recap, Dennis misguidedly believes he was one of the cool kids and is ducking his dead-toothed ex wife, Dee unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate the cool table by slinging insults around, Mac's real name has been revealed and Charlie is unconscious after huffing chemicals. So, they're up to their usual antics.
(December 15th, FX, 10PM)
Blu-ray & Games
Rise of the Planet of the ApesKung Fu Panda 2 (3D)Fright Night (3D)City of GodThe Rocketeer (20th Anniversary Edition)Heavenly CreaturesVelvet Goldmine
Monday
Fear Factor (season premiere), NBC, 8 & 9PMStephen King's Bag of Bones Part 2 of 2 (series finale), A&E, 9PMEnlightened (season finale), HBO, 9:30PMRams/Seahawks Monday Night Football, ESPN, 8:30PM2 Broke Girls (fall finale), CBS, 8PMTwo and a Half Men (fall finale), CBS, 9PMMike & Molly (fall finale), CBS, 9:30PMHawaii Five-0 (fall finale), CBS, 10PMTerra Nova, Fox, 8PMThe Closer, TNT, 9PMWWE Raw, USA, 9PMAmerican Chopper: Senior vs. Junior, Discovery, 9PMYou Deserve It, ABC, 9PMRizzoli & Isles, TNT, 10PMAmerican Guns, Discovery, 10PMRock Center with Brian Williams, NBC, 10PMTuesday
Dirty Jobs (season premiere), Discovery, 9PMGood Morning Killer (special presentation), TNT, 9PMKnights of Mayhem (season finale), National Geographic, 9PMLast Man Standing (fall finale), ABC, 8 & 8:30PMNCIS (fall finale), CBS, 8PMNCIS: LA (fall finale), CBS, 9PMUnforgettable (fall finale), CBS, 10PMGlee, Fox, 8PMNew Girl, Fox, 9PMRaising Hope, Fox, 9:30PMFlashpoint, Ion, 10PMBomb Patrol: Afghanistan, G4, 10PMWednesday
The Real World (season finale), MTV, 10PMPsych (fall finale), USA, 10PMCriminal Minds (fall finale), CBS, 9PMCSI (fall finale), CBS, 10PMDebra DiGivoanni: Single, Awkward, Female (special presentation), Showtime, 10PMAmerica Caught on Camera, Travel, 10PMSurvivor, CBS, 8PMThe X-Factor, Fox, 8PMInside The NFL, Showtime, 9PMI Hate My Teenage Daughter, Fox, 9:30PMState of Play, BBC America, 10PMMoonshiners, Discovery, 10PMAmerican Horror Story, FX, 10PMThursday
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (season finale), FX, 10PMRules of Engagement, CBS (fall finale), 8:30PMPerson of Interest (fall finale), CBS, 9PMBurn Notice (fall finale), USA, 10PMThe Mentalist (fall finale), CBS, 10PMJaguars/Falcons Thursday Night Football, NFL Network, 8PMThe X-Factor, Fox, 8PMThe Year The Earth Went Wild (special presentation), Discovery, 9PMLess Than Kind, DirecTV 101, 9PMCall Me Fitz, DirecTV 101, 9:30PMPrime Suspect, NBC, 10PMBeavis & Butt-head, MTV, 10 & 10:30PMBig Shrimpin', History, 10PMGood Vibes, MTV, 11, & 11:30PMThe League, FX, 10:30PMFriday
Christmas in Washington (special presentation), TNT, 8PMChuck, NBC, 8PMGrimm, NBC, 9PMWWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PMThe Take (part 3 of 4), Encore, 9PMSanctuary, Syfy, 10PMInvention USA, History, 10PMX-Men Anime, G4, 11PMSaturday
Cowboys/Buccaneers football, NFL Network, 9PMEarth's Final Hours (special presentation), Syfy, 9PMPrimeval (season finale), BBCA, 9PMWWE Salute to the Troops (special presentation), NBC, 9PMSaturday Night Live: Jimmy Fallon / Michael Buble, NBC, 11:30PMSunday
Survivor (season finale), CBS, 8PMAllen Gregory (season finale), Fox, 8:30PMDexter (season finale), Showtime, 9PMHomeland (season finale), Showtime, 10PMLuck, HBO, 10PMRavens/Chargers football, NBC, 8:15PM60 Minutes, CBS, 7PMLeverage, TNT, 9PMHell on Wheels, AMC, 10PMPan Am, ABC, 10PMSurvivor: The Reunion, CBS, 10PMAll-American Muslim, TLC, 10PMDon't want to shell out the cash for an iPhone 4S? Lease one on O2
By Brad Molen posted Dec 12th 2011 11:33AM 
If you can lease a vehicle, why not a smartphone? That's O2's line of thinking, anyways, as the UK carrier has begun piloting a rental scheme -- called O2 Lease -- with the iPhone 4S in the driver's seat. For a 12-month lease period and £55 per month, you'll be able to rent the 16GB version and get 750 minutes, unlimited messaging, 500MB of data and insurance. Want a 32GB model? That'll be an extra £10 per month. Since it's a rental, you'll be required to give the phone back after your year is up, but at that point you're free to grab a new device -- a great idea for anyone embarrassed to still be holding onto a primitive year-old phone. As O2 puts it: "this is the first tariff model available to all O2 customers that reflects the lifestyle of the smartphone industry." If the pilot's successful, the company will consider expanding its selection to more devices; since not everyone wishing to lease a smartphone wants an iPhone, we'd say the more handsets the merrier.
posted Dec 12th 2011 11:33AM If you can lease a vehicle, why not a smartphone? That's O2's line of thinking, anyways, as the UK carrier has begun piloting a rental scheme -- called O2 Lease -- with the iPhone 4S in the driver's seat. For a 12-month lease period and £55 per month, you'll be able to rent the 16GB version and get 750 minutes, unlimited messaging, 500MB of data and insurance. Want a 32GB model? That'll be an extra £10 per month. Since it's a rental, you'll be required to give the phone back after your year is up, but at that point you're free to grab a new device -- a great idea for anyone embarrassed to still be holding onto a primitive year-old phone. As O2 puts it: "this is the first tariff model available to all O2 customers that reflects the lifestyle of the smartphone industry." If the pilot's successful, the company will consider expanding its selection to more devices; since not everyone wishing to lease a smartphone wants an iPhone, we'd say the more handsets the merrier.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Microsoft replaces Andy Lees as Windows Phone head
By Terrence O'Brien posted December 12th 2011 5:00PM 
AllThingsD is reporting that Microsoft is replacing Andy Lees as head of its Windows Phone division... sort of. It looks like Terry Myerson, who has headed up engineering efforts for the group, will take over many of Lees' responsibilities, though, he wont be inheriting his title. At least not just yet. In a memo seen by AllThingsD, Ballmer announced that Lees would be taking on a new position with the company, though it's not entirely clear what that might be -- describing it only as "time-critical" and "focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8." (So, it's safe to assume he's not becoming a janitor.) The shakeup isn't terribly surprising, especially considering the CEO's own admission that Windows Phone 7 was not performing as well as expected in the market.
posted December 12th 2011 5:00PM AllThingsD is reporting that Microsoft is replacing Andy Lees as head of its Windows Phone division... sort of. It looks like Terry Myerson, who has headed up engineering efforts for the group, will take over many of Lees' responsibilities, though, he wont be inheriting his title. At least not just yet. In a memo seen by AllThingsD, Ballmer announced that Lees would be taking on a new position with the company, though it's not entirely clear what that might be -- describing it only as "time-critical" and "focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8." (So, it's safe to assume he's not becoming a janitor.) The shakeup isn't terribly surprising, especially considering the CEO's own admission that Windows Phone 7 was not performing as well as expected in the market. The divisions interim leader, Myerson, has been with Microsoft since 1997 and previously headed up the team in charge of Exchange. For now he will continue to report to Lees will remain the president of the Windows Phone group, even if that is in name only.
Apple Mac Store breaks the 100 million download barrier
At just under a year old, Apple's Mac App Store is celebrating a fairly significant milestone, hitting the 100 million download mark, a fact the company celebrated with a customarily self-congratulatory press release. The desktop store hit the scene in January of this year, just ahead of CES -- at present, it's home to "thousands" of apps, according to Apple. Granted, these numbers pale in comparison to the some 18 billion app downloads for Apple's other App Store, but still, not bad for a year's work. Press release after the break.Apple's Mac App Store Downloads Top 100 MillionCUPERTINO, California-December 12, 2011-Apple® today announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac® App Store™ in less than one year. With thousands of free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the App Store experience to the Mac so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes® account, and download and install them in just one step. Apple revolutionized the app industry with the App Store, which now has more than 500,000 apps and where customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps and continue to download more than 1 billion apps per month.
"In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world."
"With Autodesk products in both the App Store and Mac App Store, we can reach hundreds of millions of Apple users around the world," said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk. "With our free AutoCAD WS and the more powerful professional drafting tools of AutoCAD LT, we're using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers."
"The Mac App Store has unparalleled reach and has completely transformed our distribution and development cycle," said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. "Offering Pixelmator 2.0 exclusively on the Mac App Store allows us to streamline updates to our image editing software and stay ahead of the competition."
"In less than one year we've shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store," said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. "With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels."
The Mac App Store offers thousands of apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what's hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews. The Mac App Store is included with Mac OS® X Lion and is available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard®. For more information visit, www.apple.com/mac/app-store.
Mac developers set the prices for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit, developer.apple.com/programs/mac.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
Monday, 6 February 2012
Archos G9 tablets to receive Ice Cream Sandwich by 'first trimester' of 2012
Archos' duo of G9 tablets have been on the market for a few months now, but the French manufacturer has already made plans for the slates' next major update, announcing today that the devices will receive an update to Android 4.0 by the "first trimester" of 2012. Archos didn't offer anything more specific than that, but it's certainly an encouraging sign for those looking to take a bite of Ice Cream Sandwich on a budget. Read the full press release at the source link below, but be warned that it's in French. [Thanks, Wewewi]
Verizon-branded LG Spectrum steps out in leaked press shot
By Mat Smith posted Dec 12th 2011 10:55AM
posted Dec 12th 2011 10:55AM 
LG aren't letting up on the LTE hardware. While we've only just shaken hands with AT&T's Nitro HD, this Verizon-branded 4G handset packs several design cues (and specifications) from its rival network cousin. The LG Spectrum has already appeared -- albeit fleetingly -- in a database listing and is likely to be the successor to Big Red's Revolution. Pocketnow reckons that the phone will rock a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a high-definition display running at 720p and an eight megapixel shooter, although it's hard to make out much for from these shots -- aside from that protruding camera module. Regardless, life's most certainly looking good for LG fans.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Silverlight hits 5.0, Microsoft silent as to its future
By Dante Cesa posted Dec 12th 2011 12:06AM 
Last we heard, there were whispers that Redmond's favorite runtime / framework / Flash-killer was due for a fresh release "soon." Confirming those rumors is version 5.0 of Microsoft's cross-platform Silverlight, now available for download. Headlining the release is hardware decoding of H.264 streams, improved postscript printing and a better graphics stack, replete with support for things in the third dimension. Rumors that Silverlight's own luminance is fading still go unanswered, without confirmation or denial from Microsoft -- but why let uncertainty get you down? Hit the source and turn that frown upside down. 
posted Dec 12th 2011 12:06AM Last we heard, there were whispers that Redmond's favorite runtime / framework / Flash-killer was due for a fresh release "soon." Confirming those rumors is version 5.0 of Microsoft's cross-platform Silverlight, now available for download. Headlining the release is hardware decoding of H.264 streams, improved postscript printing and a better graphics stack, replete with support for things in the third dimension. Rumors that Silverlight's own luminance is fading still go unanswered, without confirmation or denial from Microsoft -- but why let uncertainty get you down? Hit the source and turn that frown upside down.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Samsung outs two new Series 5 laptops in Korea, claims they're Ultrabooks
By Sharif Sakr posted Dec 12th 2011 6:00AM 
Is there room on the Ultrabook wagon for two new models from Samsung? There's a 13-incher and a 14-incher, which both reportedly come under its Series 5 branding (previously used for Chromebooks), but at first glance only the smaller model might deserve its seat: it has the requisite Sandy Bridge processor and a perfectly compliant 0.59-inch thickness, but it adds 500GB of HDD storage on top of a 16GB SSD, which brings its weight right up to the 1.4kg (3.1 pound) limit. Meanwhile, the 14-inch variant scrapes through the 0.83-inch thickness criterion, but its 1TB HDD and discrete AMD graphics lead to a 1.8kg weight that seems well overboard. The pricing looks acceptable, with both models starting at the equivalent of around $1150, but we can't wait to see what happens when Intel inspects their tickets.
posted Dec 12th 2011 6:00AM Is there room on the Ultrabook wagon for two new models from Samsung? There's a 13-incher and a 14-incher, which both reportedly come under its Series 5 branding (previously used for Chromebooks), but at first glance only the smaller model might deserve its seat: it has the requisite Sandy Bridge processor and a perfectly compliant 0.59-inch thickness, but it adds 500GB of HDD storage on top of a 16GB SSD, which brings its weight right up to the 1.4kg (3.1 pound) limit. Meanwhile, the 14-inch variant scrapes through the 0.83-inch thickness criterion, but its 1TB HDD and discrete AMD graphics lead to a 1.8kg weight that seems well overboard. The pricing looks acceptable, with both models starting at the equivalent of around $1150, but we can't wait to see what happens when Intel inspects their tickets.
Samsung claims record 300 million mobile sales this year
By Sharif Sakr posted Dec 12th 2011 7:20AM 
Add together ten million Galaxy S IIs, a dollop of Galaxy Nexii, a gargantuan gathering of Galaxy Notes and a healthy serving of Badas, and what do you get? 300 million handset sales so far in 2011, that's what. And Samsung claims that makes this the best year in its mobile-making history, surpassing 2010 by a whopping 20 million. Of course, more sales doesn't necessarily translate into greater revenue -- Nokia is still the world's largest manufacturer by volume and is a case in point. Nevertheless, we'll know more when Samsung reveals its Q4 earnings next month.
posted Dec 12th 2011 7:20AM Add together ten million Galaxy S IIs, a dollop of Galaxy Nexii, a gargantuan gathering of Galaxy Notes and a healthy serving of Badas, and what do you get? 300 million handset sales so far in 2011, that's what. And Samsung claims that makes this the best year in its mobile-making history, surpassing 2010 by a whopping 20 million. Of course, more sales doesn't necessarily translate into greater revenue -- Nokia is still the world's largest manufacturer by volume and is a case in point. Nevertheless, we'll know more when Samsung reveals its Q4 earnings next month.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Yifan Lu jailbreaks Kindle Touch, uses a special MP3 file to do so (video)
We've seen a fair share of Kindle Jailbreaks over the past few years, but Yifan Lu's (evidently the first) for the Kindle Touch is certainly novel in its approach. As The Digital Reader points out, a sizeable chunk of the Touch's software is essentially a string of pseudo HTML5 and JavaScript webpages -- differentiating it from Kindles prior -- which led Lu to notice an exploit rooted in its browser. It's there where he found a function titled nativeBridge.dbgCmd(), which'll run any ol' shell command as root. Armed with that knowledge, Lu crafted the jailbreak by cramming his payload of HTML and JavaScript into the ID3 tags of an easily downloadable MP3 file. There isn't much to be gained from "playing" that MP3 just yet, but Lu's looking forward to developers using the tools needed to write programs for the device. Full details about the jailbreak can be found at source link below, but before you head off, you can catch the video proof after the break.
Google's Native Client focuses on apps and games, brings Bastion to the browser (video)
In case you missed it, Google's Native Client launched at the end of the summer, promising to ease cross-OS deployment by letting developers run x86 code natively in Chrome. Early adopters have had a few months to tinker with Google's new trick, and now the outfit is eager to show off their best work. Supergiant Games, for instance, has ported Bastion to the Native Client, opening up the Xbox Live hit to Mac, Linux and Chrome OS users. Google's Christian Stefansen says Native Client makes porting existing code bases written C, C++ or C# easy, citing Spacetime Studio's Star Legends -- an MMO with over half a million lines of code -- as an example of a large project that was ported in as little as two weeks. Google touts application middleware ports (such as Unity, Moai, Mono, fmod and more) and easy distribution to the Chrome Web Store as a major boon to developers, and encourages interested studios to check out its new Native Client site to help them get started. Interested? Hit up the links below, or simply skip past the break to hear Mr. Stefansen's spiel for yourself.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Google doodle celebrates Robert Noyce; Intel co-founder and 'Mayor of Silicon Valley'
By Daniel Cooper posted Dec 12th 2011 5:13AM 
The honor of having your own Google Doodle is bestowed upon only a few very special individuals like Gregor Mendel, Alexander Calder and Lucille Ball. Today's entrant celebrates the 84th birthday of the late Robert "Bob" Noyce, co-inventor of the microchip. After co-founding Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, he mentored younger engineers to earn the nickname "the Mayor of Silicon Valley." Surf on over to the Google homepage and you'll see its logo imprinted over a microprocessor, which Bob helped to birth.
posted Dec 12th 2011 5:13AM The honor of having your own Google Doodle is bestowed upon only a few very special individuals like Gregor Mendel, Alexander Calder and Lucille Ball. Today's entrant celebrates the 84th birthday of the late Robert "Bob" Noyce, co-inventor of the microchip. After co-founding Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, he mentored younger engineers to earn the nickname "the Mayor of Silicon Valley." Surf on over to the Google homepage and you'll see its logo imprinted over a microprocessor, which Bob helped to birth.
P.S. it's not a Vita: Yinlips' Android-based YDPG18
By Joseph Volpe posted Dec 12th 2011 7:11PM 
Don't call it a KIRF -- it's a Yinlips "Android Smart Game Player." Which is to say, it's an Xperia Play-like experience wrapped in PS Vita clothing. So basically, yeah, it's a KIRF. This form factor doppleganger hails from China and lacks the internal quad-core pizazz of the Sony next generation handheld it purports to be. Instead of standing on the precipice of portable gaming, this 5-inch pretender will net you a hum drum FroYo / Gingerbread-based (even its own website couldn't decide) OS packed with a slew of old school gaming emulators (from NES to N64), an array of ports including HDMI, a single core 1.2GHz processor complemented by 512MB of DDR2 RAM and WiFi. It's a must have device for, well, no one. But if you're the type who likes to burn money and carry about a virtual collection of video games past, then by all means, import away.
posted Dec 12th 2011 7:11PM Don't call it a KIRF -- it's a Yinlips "Android Smart Game Player." Which is to say, it's an Xperia Play-like experience wrapped in PS Vita clothing. So basically, yeah, it's a KIRF. This form factor doppleganger hails from China and lacks the internal quad-core pizazz of the Sony next generation handheld it purports to be. Instead of standing on the precipice of portable gaming, this 5-inch pretender will net you a hum drum FroYo / Gingerbread-based (even its own website couldn't decide) OS packed with a slew of old school gaming emulators (from NES to N64), an array of ports including HDMI, a single core 1.2GHz processor complemented by 512MB of DDR2 RAM and WiFi. It's a must have device for, well, no one. But if you're the type who likes to burn money and carry about a virtual collection of video games past, then by all means, import away.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
iOS 5.1 beta 2 out of the oven, ready for developer consumption
By Dante Cesa posted Dec 12th 2011 2:36PM 
Ready to kick off Monday with some iOS flashing? Excellent, because Apple's just released the second beta of iOS 5.1, lovingly christened 9B5127c. No Cupertino devices at Engadget HQ have taken the plunge, but as noted by MacRumors, the beta enables individual picture deletion from Photo Stream -- which differs from the existing delete all or nothing implementation. Too early to tell if it'll finally squash any lingering battery bugs once and for all, but you can hit Apple's developer website to get your download on -- just be ready for the next one in two weeks, cool?
posted Dec 12th 2011 2:36PM Ready to kick off Monday with some iOS flashing? Excellent, because Apple's just released the second beta of iOS 5.1, lovingly christened 9B5127c. No Cupertino devices at Engadget HQ have taken the plunge, but as noted by MacRumors, the beta enables individual picture deletion from Photo Stream -- which differs from the existing delete all or nothing implementation. Too early to tell if it'll finally squash any lingering battery bugs once and for all, but you can hit Apple's developer website to get your download on -- just be ready for the next one in two weeks, cool? [Thanks, Haseeb]
Groundbreaking photonic chip could spark Quantum Computing revolution
Multi-purpose photonic chip paves the way to programmable quantum processors
A multi-purpose optical chip which generates, manipulates and measures entanglement and mixture - two quantum phenomena which are essential driving forces for tomorrow's quantum computers - has been developed by researchers from the University of Bristol's Centre for Quantum Photonics. This work represents an important step forward in the race to develop a quantum computer.
The fundamental resource that drives a quantum computer is entanglement - the connection between two distant particles which Einstein famously called 'spooky action at a distance'. The Bristol researchers have, for the first time, shown that this remarkable phenomenon can be generated, manipulated and measured entirely on a tiny silica chip. They have also used the same chip to measure mixture - an often unwanted effect from the environment, but a phenomenon which can now be controlled and used to characterize quantum circuits, as well as being of fundamental interest to physicists.
"In order to build a quantum computer, we not only need to be able to control complex phenomena such as entanglement and mixture, but we need to be able to do this on a chip, so that we can scalably and practically duplicate many such miniature circuits - in much the same way as the modern computers we have today," says Professor Jeremy O'Brien, Director of the Centre for Quantum Photonics. "Our device enables this and we believe it is a major step forward towards optical quantum computing."
The chip, which performs several experiments that would each ordinarily be carried out on an optical bench the size of a large dining table, is 70 mm by 3 mm. It consists of a network of tiny channels which guide, manipulate and interact single photons - particles of light. Using eight reconfigurable electrodes embedded in the circuit, photon pairs can be manipulated and entangled, producing any possible entangled state of two photons or any mixed state of one photon.
"It isn't ideal if your quantum computer can only perform a single specific task", explains Peter Shadbolt, lead author of the study, which is published in the journal Nature Photonics. "We would prefer to have a reconfigurable device which can perform a broad variety of tasks, much like our desktop PCs today - this reconfigurable ability is what we have now demonstrated. This device is approximately ten times more complex than previous experiments using this technology. It's exciting because we can perform many different experiments in a very straightforward way, using a single reconfigurable chip."
The researchers, who have been developing quantum photonic chips for the past six years, are now working on scaling up the complexity of this device, and see this technology as the building block for the quantum computers of the future.
Dr Terry Rudolph from Imperial College in London, UK, believes this work is a significant advance. He said: "Being able to generate, manipulate and measure entanglement on a chip is an awesome achievement. Not only is it a key step towards the many quantum technologies - such as optical quantum computing - which are going to revolutionize our lives, it gives us much more opportunity to explore and play with some of the very weird quantum phenomena we still struggle to wrap our minds around. They have made it so easy to dial up in seconds an experiment that used to take us months, that I'm wondering if even I can run my own experiment now!"
Paper
'Generating, manipulating and measuring entanglement and mixture with a reconfigurable photonic circuit' by P. J. Shadbolt, M. R. Verde, A. Peruzzo, A. Politi, A. Laing, M. Lobino, J. C. F. Matthews, M. G. Thompson and J. L. O'Brien in Nature Photonics
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Spherical hexapod robot walks like a crab, dances like the Bogle (video)
Kåre Halvorsen (aka Zenta) is something of a genius in the robotic arts, as testified by the latest development in his long-running MorpHex project. By adding curved polycarbonate panels to its six feet and upper half, he's given his creation the ability to curl up into a ball when it gets tired of scuttling. Alas, he hasn't managed to make it roll around yet, or indeed fly, but the video after the break is still pretty amazing -- and almost as hypnotic as that robotic worm we caught doing the limbo.
Researchers build world's smallest steam engine that could
The world's smallest steam engine
A heat engine measuring only a few micrometres works as well as its larger counterpart, although it splutters
December 11, 2011
What would be a case for the repair shop for a car engine is completely normal for a micro engine. If it sputters, this is caused by the thermal motions of the smallest particles, which interfere with its running. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart and the Stuttgart-based Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have now observed this with a heat engine on the micrometre scale. They have also determined that the machine does actually perform work, all things considered. Although this cannot be used as yet, the experiment carried out by the researchers in Stuttgart shows that an engine does basically work, even if it is on the microscale. This means that there is nothing, in principle, to prevent the construction of highly efficient, small heat engines.
A technology which works on a large scale can cause unexpected problems on a small one. And these can be of a fundamental nature. This is because different laws prevail in the micro- and the macroworld. Despite the different laws, some physical processes are surprisingly similar on both large and small scales. Clemens Bechinger, Professor at the University of Stuttgart and Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and his colleague Valentin Blickle have now observed one of these similarities.
"We've developed the world's smallest steam engine, or to be more precise the smallest Stirling engine, and found that the machine really does perform work," says Clemens Bechinger. "This was not necessarily to be expected, because the machine is so small that its motion is hindered by microscopic processes which are of no consequence in the macroworld." The disturbances cause the micromachine to run rough and, in a sense, sputter.
The laws of the microworld dictated that the researchers were not able to construct the tiny engine according to the blueprint of a normal-sized one. In the heat engine invented almost 200 years ago by Robert Stirling, a gas-filled cylinder is periodically heated and cooled so that the gas expands and contracts. This makes a piston execute a motion with which it can drive a wheel, for example.
"We successfully decreased the size of the essential parts of a heat engine, such as the working gas and piston, to only a few micrometres and then assembled them to a machine," says Valentin Blickle. The working gas in the Stuttgart-based experiment thus no longer consists of countless molecules, but of only one individual plastic bead measuring a mere three micrometres (one micrometre corresponds to one thousandth of a millimetre) which floats in water. Since the colloid particle is around 10,000 times larger than an atom, researchers can observe its motion directly in a microscope.
The physicists replaced the piston, which moves periodically up and down in a cylinder, by a focused laser beam whose intensity is periodically varied. The optical forces of the laser limit the motion of the plastic particle to a greater and a lesser degree, like the compression and expansion of the gas in the cylinder of a large heat engine. The particle then does work on the optical laser field. In order for the contributions to the work not to cancel each other out during compression and expansion, these must take place at different temperatures. This is done by heating the system from the outside during the expansion process, just like the boiler of a steam engine. The researchers replaced the coal fire of an old-fashioned steam engine with a further laser beam that heats the water suddenly, but also lets it cool down as soon as it is switched off.
The fact that the Stuttgart machine runs rough is down to the water molecules which surround the plastic bead. The water molecules are in constant motion due to their temperature and continually collide with the microparticle. In these random collisions, the plastic particle constantly exchanges energy with its surroundings on the same order of magnitude as the micromachine converts energy into work. "This effect means that the amount of energy gained varies greatly from cycle to cycle, and even brings the machine to a standstill in the extreme case," explains Valentin Blickle. Since macroscopic machines convert around 20 orders of magnitude more energy, the tiny collision energies of the smallest particles in them are not important.
The physicists are all the more astonished that the machine converts as much energy per cycle on average despite the varying power, and even runs with the same efficiency as its macroscopic counterpart under full load. "Our experiments provide us with an initial insight into the energy balance of a heat engine operating in microscopic dimensions. Although our machine does not provide any useful work as yet, there are no thermodynamic obstacles, in principle, which prohibit this in small dimensions," says Clemens Bechinger. This is surely good news for the design of reliable, highly efficient micromachines.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Huawei Honor gets Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, feels honored
By Amar Toor posted Dec 12th 2011 6:40AM 
It looks like the Huawei Honor has been honored with a helping of Ice Cream Sandwich. The Chinese manufacturer posted a "demo-build" of the update to its support page today, offering Android 4.0 in both simplified Chinese, as well as the standard suite of languages included in the Android pack. The update comes less than a month after the release of Ice Cream Sandwich's source code, and well in advance of some other manufacturers. You can take it for a spin now, at the source link below.
posted Dec 12th 2011 6:40AM It looks like the Huawei Honor has been honored with a helping of Ice Cream Sandwich. The Chinese manufacturer posted a "demo-build" of the update to its support page today, offering Android 4.0 in both simplified Chinese, as well as the standard suite of languages included in the Android pack. The update comes less than a month after the release of Ice Cream Sandwich's source code, and well in advance of some other manufacturers. You can take it for a spin now, at the source link below.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Let the turkey power your Christmas tree lights
By Sharif Sakr posted Dec 12th 2011 8:12AM 
No one's attempted this in a commercial product before, but Nihon Dengyo Kosaku Co has reportedly developed a device that makes it achievable: a 'rectenna' that can fit inside a microwave oven and recycle unused wave energy. The palm-sized gadget combines both an antenna for catching waves and a rectifier for converting them into DC current, with a maximum output of 100 watts. Foods with a low water content have the worst heating efficiency, which means they offer the best opportunity for reclaiming energy -- so stodgy Christmas cuisine would be perfect.
posted Dec 12th 2011 8:12AM No one's attempted this in a commercial product before, but Nihon Dengyo Kosaku Co has reportedly developed a device that makes it achievable: a 'rectenna' that can fit inside a microwave oven and recycle unused wave energy. The palm-sized gadget combines both an antenna for catching waves and a rectifier for converting them into DC current, with a maximum output of 100 watts. Foods with a low water content have the worst heating efficiency, which means they offer the best opportunity for reclaiming energy -- so stodgy Christmas cuisine would be perfect.
Android Market web store update adds user review filters, changes lives
By Amar Toor posted Dec 12th 2011 10:33AM 
It looks like Google has rolled out yet another update to its Android Market web store, bringing a slew of new filtering features for especially investigative users. In particular, the refresh allows consumers to filter user reviews by a handful of parameters, including star ratings, app version and device model. Best of all, you can use any or all of these filters simultaneously, thereby allowing you to isolate, for example, all five-star reviews of a specific app from users of a specific handset. It certainly sounds like a useful addition, and one you can check out for yourself, at the source link below.
posted Dec 12th 2011 10:33AM It looks like Google has rolled out yet another update to its Android Market web store, bringing a slew of new filtering features for especially investigative users. In particular, the refresh allows consumers to filter user reviews by a handful of parameters, including star ratings, app version and device model. Best of all, you can use any or all of these filters simultaneously, thereby allowing you to isolate, for example, all five-star reviews of a specific app from users of a specific handset. It certainly sounds like a useful addition, and one you can check out for yourself, at the source link below.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
EZ-Robot releases build-your-own kit, realistic Cylons due any time now (video)
DJ Sures' homemade Wall-E was the beginning of his project to bring personal robotics to the masses: thanks to his company, EZ-Robot. The startup sells kits that let you retrofit that Teddy Ruxpin doll in the garage into a fully-functioning killbot. $235 will buy you a wireless controller, ultrasonic distance sensor, wireless tracking camera, three standard servos, two continuous rotation servos, battery pack and software that'll let you control the bot without having to learn to code. The software also includes vision tracking (facial, motion and color), speech recognition and the whole thing will even integrate with your Roomba -- although we're not sure how far you'll get if you ask it for a sandwich.
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