Rabu, 09 Maret 2011

What's new on SlashGear.com

What's new on SlashGear.com

Outlaw Toymakers Lampoon Zuckerberg

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:01 PM PST

Those jokers over at M.I.C. Gadget have done it again. You might remember them releasing an action figure of Apple’s CEO last year. This time they’ve chosen to release a figure for FaceBook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. “It is heavier than an iPhone, lighter than an iPad. And it stands 7 inches tall.” He comes accessorized with a Like It button, Adidas sandals, and smarmy grin.

This Zuckerburg bobble-headed-looking doll comes with a number of amusing odds and ends. The Like it button can be replaced with a Poke button if you’re feeling a little punchy, or pokey as the case may be. The kit also comes included with customizable speech bubbles that stick into the back of his big head. Make him say something Johnny!

[via M.I.C. Gadget]

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AT&T Teases HSUPA Update For Atrix 4G and Inspire 4G

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 02:51 PM PST

We mentioned late last month that AT&T may have intentionally blocked HSUPA data speeds for the HTC Inspire 4G but instead claimed that the device did not support HSUPA. This also seemed to be the case for the Motorola Atrix 4G. However, BGR obtained a statement from AT&T that suggests the carrier may be uncapping data speeds with an update soon.

“We have a number of HSUPA devices today and we will have more HUSPA-enabled devices in the future—new devices and updates to existing models,” reads the statement received by BGR from an AT&T spokesperson. The statement is very vague and does not specifically mention the Inspire 4G or the Atrix 4G, but considering that these are two popular 4G devices currently have the most complaints on the lack of HSUPA upload data speeds, it may very well be addressing them with “updates to existing models.”

It is not clear why AT&T chose to limit these 4G devices to HSDPA while allowing the iPhone 4 to have HSUPA upload speeds. With the statement above, Inspire 4G and Atrix 4G owners may find some relief knowing that an update is likely coming that should release the capped data speeds on their devices.

[via BGR]

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Apple TV Updated With MLB And NBA Live Streaming

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 02:00 PM PST

Sports fans rejoice as the latest update to Apple TV allows live streaming games for NBA League Pass and MLB.TV subscribers. The update also includes new support for AirPlay to stream from iOS 4.3 devices and support for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound with Netflix movies and TV shows.

NBA League Pass has two subscription models for online streaming, a $65 option that allows you to track your favorite 7 teams, or a $100 option for unlimited streaming. League Pass streams online content that can be accessed by computers and has mobile apps for Android and iOS. MLB.TV was previously available on Roku and Playstation 3 for streaming. It also has two subscription options with a $100 standard package and a $120 Premium package which gives you home/away broadcasts, multiple camera angles, and in-game DVR capability.

This is a pretty awesome deal for anyone who is a sports nut and needs to follow multiple teams across the league. The NBA is nearing the close of the regular season with the playoffs coming up and the MLB is in the middle of spring training and the long baseball season is about to kick off soon. So it's a perfect time for you to pick up an Apple TV for $100 and start streaming all the sports you can handle.

The update also includes new AirPlay support for third-party iOS 4.3 apps allowing you to wirelessly stream video from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Along with this is support for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound when watching movies or TV shows from Netflix. New slideshow themes for viewing photos, improved on-screen keyboard, and some security fixes round out the the new features of the update.

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Gmail Labs launches Smart Labels

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 01:57 PM PST

This morning the duders down at Google Labs released a neat little ditty. I don’t know if you use labels already, but you should check out the smart label system. Labels gave you the ability to sort your e-mail into different tags based on regular expressions. It is implemented with some really simple pattern matching. Though with a little bit of computer wizardry you could sort your mail pretty well, it’s not really all that useful with today’s internet. Luckily, Google has our collective backs. These labels are actually pretty smart. I navigated myself to this link to turn on the service.

Yes, that’s a screenshot of my inbox. Well, a shot of the interior of my brand spanking new Bulk Smart Label. As you might be able to discern from the screenshot, the smart labels sorted everything into three folders, Bulk, Forums, and Notifications. The Bulk folder contains all of the ad-spam I subject myself to just in case something too cool to pass up drops in through one of those social network coupon sites. The Forums tab has some bits and pieces from some old-school style mailing lists. The Notifications folder contains things like e-mails from super-secret Facebook groups I’m subscribed to, links to e-cards from my Aunt, and other kinds of website-generated e-mail traffic that’s wasn’t part of a bulk mailing. It just worked. Thanks Google!

[ via Gmail Blog]

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First Official Apple Store In UAE To Open At Mall Of The Emirates

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 01:50 PM PST

The first official Apple Store in the UAE will open this month in Dubai. The store will be located within the Virgin Megastore in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates and it will be fully staffed with Apple geniuses and employees and should have the look and feel of your typical Apple Store.

This news should delight Apple fans in the region who have had to wait extra long for new Apple products to reach the area or pay exorbitant prices to get Apple products on the gray market. However, this news will be bad for other manufacturers that have been able to enjoy the lack of Apple’s presence in the market thus far.

The Apple Store in Dubai should open on March 16th and to celebrate its launch will be voucher giveaways for customers wanting to purchase iMacs and MacBooks. It’s not clear if the soon to be released iPad 2 will make its journey over there as well.

[via Stuff Middle East]

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Unreal Development Kit Demo, “Samaritan”

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 01:18 PM PST

What do a scene of urban decay, a blowtorch on a piece of chain, a half smoked cigarette, rain falling down a stubble clad cheek and muzzle flashes have in common? They’re all images featured in “Samaritan”, a technology demo from Epic Games showcasing all of the new features included in the UDK. Epic just released the UDK Beta this month. They dropped this beautiful little piece of eye-candy at GDC last week. Epic’s demonstration video is a showcase of the newest of the new in graphics rendering tech. It’s also a great little scene that’s fun to watch in it’s own right, even if you’re not a rendering-geek like me.

The UDK Beta is available with the new DirectX11 features. I’m going to highlight the Subsurface scattering (SSS) technique. This rendering technique simulates light scattering within translucent materials like human skin. Watch the video below and see for yourself how the shadows and highlights are on the Samaritan. His virtual skin glows with a subtle luminosity. It’s still deep in the crevice of the uncanny valley, but we’re beginning to start climbing up the other side. There is a litany of other features included in this demo, image-based reflections, anti-aliased masking, deferred rendering, bokeh depth of field, and high quality dynamic shadows from many lights. We’re impressed.

Epic also included NVIDIA's APEX technology into the UDK. Apex is a scalable dynamics platform for consoles and PC. This allows for dynamically calculated physics for objects in the game. It’s showcased in the video quite a few times. Pay attention to the Samaritan’s jacket as he stands up. Apex takes care of all of the calculation on how the clothing shifts, in realtime. The raindrops falling from the sky and interacting with the character models is probably another prime example of how Epic is showcasing the capabilities of NVidia’s new dynamics platform.

[via Epic Games]

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Nokia Phone Charger Works While You Ride Your Bicycle

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 12:43 PM PST

Nokia has introduced a bike powered phone charger that lets you talk, listen to music, or just charge your phone while riding your bike. The charger has a cradle that securely straps your phone to the handlebar with a plug to charge your phone. The cradle is connected to the power converter that is attached to the front wheel of your bicycle.

The tiny turbine is pressed against the side of the front wheel and as the wheel spins it generates power that is sent to your phone. Nokia's charger is available in Europe, Asia, India, Africa, and Europe. There was no information on when or if the charger will make its way to North America. The charger starts charging when the rider reaches six kilometers per hour and Nokia says that it's just as effective as a standard wall charger if a rider gets to 12 kilometers per hour. Using the charger for 20 minutes at 10 kilometers per hour can power up a Nokia 1202 for one hour of talk time or 74 hours of standby time.

This isn't a novel idea as two students from the University of Kenya came up with a bicycle powered charger four years ago and filed patents under Kenyan law. The two unfortunately didn't have the money or backing to effectively promote their product. Motorola is also rumored to be developing their own bicycle powered charger. The Nokia bicycle phone charger costs around $33.

[via TreeHugger]

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HaloIPT Wirelessly Charges your Rolls-Royce?

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 12:22 PM PST

We covered the HaloIPT system last fall. If you weren’t clicking links, it’s a wireless battery charging system for electric vehicles. Just park over the induction pad and the system will charge the batteries on your electric vehicle. This is the same kind of technology like you’re seeing in the Energizer Qi and a host of other inductive charging mats for your wireless devices. Rolls-Royce recently unveiled the 102ex Phantom experimental electric vehicle at the Geneva Auto Show and it apparently comes with the HaloIPT. Rolls plans to use the car to start a debate on whether or not full-electric vehicles are the future of luxury automotive.

The Rolls-Royce 102ex looks just like the rest of the Phantom line, but it’s guts contain two powerful, water cooled electric motors and a massive li-ion battery where the V12 engine and gearbox would otherwise be. Most electric vehicles use a charging system that plugs into a port placed similarly to the gas tanks on internal combustion engines. Rolls is going with HaloIPT. Seamless, wireless, simple, elegant, what else do you expect? Ben Rooney over at the Wall Street Journal reported this a little earlier today. He sourced Nigel Wonnacott, Product PR Manager at Rolls-Royce. The imagery that Rolls has provided otherwise show a charging cable hanging out of the rear of the car. I wonder if this isn’t a last-minute retrofit. Most of the inductive charging systems I’ve seen so far are a snap-on kit or dongle that hangs off of the bottom of your device. I bet that the HaloIPT is similarly simple to install onto any electric vehicle. Of course it’s not going to be as easy as adding a case to your iPod, but it’ll be easy enough.

Rolls-Royce will be taking the Phantom 102ex to current owners to get feedback on the design. They plan to allow the current customers to help guide the brand into the future. They are going to be taking the car to current owners to get their perspective on the future of Rolls-Royce and electric vehicles. The CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, says that the brand “stands for effortless, silent, and powerful motoring.” With two water-cooled electric motors in the drive-train and a charging system that’s as easy as driving into your garage. I think they would be crazy not to go with electric.

[via Wall Street Journal]

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Final Two Standard Editions for Android Toy Series 02 Revealed

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 12:14 PM PST

Collectors must be getting anxious because Android Toy Series 02 goes on sale this week and the last two of the 12 total designs have been revealed. The series will have 12 different collectible designs as opposed to the 10 in Series 01 and much like a pack of baseball cards, the toys come blind-boxed, meaning you don’t know which design you’re getting till it’s opened. The last two designs are "Noogler" and "Iceberg".

The Noogler is designed by Jeff Yasick for Google. It is wearing a white t-shirt with the word "Noogler" scrawled across the front a la Google’s color scheme and font style. Its head looks like a kiddy propeller hat and the propeller does spin. The ratio or likelihood of opening a box containing the Noogler is 1/16.

The Iceberg is designed by Andrew Bell and is a clear blue figurine with a melting ice patterns on its body. It goes from translucent to opaque. The Iceberg design will have a 2/16 ratio.

Each box will come with a foldout checklist of all the design names and their respective artists. The guys over at Android Community will be having additional Series 02 giveaways soon, so stay tuned to our announcement for that.

[via DYZ Plastic]

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White iPhone 4 To Debut In April For AT&T Only?

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 11:46 AM PST

The elusive white iPhone 4 may finally make its appearance next month, according to Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The white version is believed to ship in April and will be limited to a GSM version for now, meaning only AT&T customers get to rejoice. No timeline has been suggested for a CDMA version for Verizon.

The white variation has been much sought after ever since Apple released the iPhone 4 back in June 2010. Its release kept getting hit with delays due to problems with the white paint along with camera problems. Kuo says that Apple has finally fixed the issues and the white iPhone 4 will indeed head to production.

However, this news does seem peculiar because if the white iPhone 4 were to actually release in April, sales numbers might not be that great given expectations for an iPhone 5 announcement around June or July. If the white version does come out in April, will you get it? Or would you wait for the iPhone 5?

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

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Space Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Landing, Heads To Museum

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 11:32 AM PST

Space shuttle Discovery made its final landing today at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Completing its 39th and final flight, the Discovery now retires as Nasa’s oldest and most flown space shuttle. It was a bittersweet touchdown as everyone witnessed this history in the making.

The Discovery is still in top shape and its retirement is due to the closing down of NASA’s shuttle program in order to financially support new programs to send astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit. NASA is under presidential direction to make this decision and to shut down the shuttle program by this summer.

The Endeavor and Atlantis space shuttles will be completing their voyages within the coming months. However, over the 30 year program, Discovery still holds the record with 39 missions, 148 million miles, 5,830 orbits of Earth and 365 days spent in space. It will take several months of work to dismantle engine parts and drain fuel before the Discovery will be ready for its final resting place at the Smithsonian Institution.

“To the ship that has led the way time and time again, we say, ‘Farewell Discovery,’” radioed the Mission Control commentator.

[via USA Today]

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iOS 4.3 Benchmarks on iPad

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 11:20 AM PST

So like everyone else in the Apple universe, we had to download the iOS 4.3 update today AS FAST as POSSIBLE, and you know good and well what the next step is: benchmarks! Thustly we whipped out our SunSpider Browser Benchmarking webpages and our cool Geekbench apps and we’re ready and more than excited to bring you the results. Would you like to know more?

Every time I type that “Would you like to know more?” I feel like I’m reenacting Starship Troopers. That said, we’ve got all the iPad 1 goodness you could ever want right here:

First we’ve got the SunSpider results. What this benchmark shows is core JavaScript performance based on a series of replicated real-world behaviors. When you see the results, note that lower is better:
iPad 1 with iOS 4.21: 8594.9
iPad 2 during iPad 2 release event: 2121.7
iPad 1 with iOS 4.3: 3240.8
So while we are seeing a MASSIVE improvement here, we’re not quite up to the level that iPad 2 will be releasing with. This is where Nitro engine shines. This is a very big deal as far as browsing goes, and it’s a massive step forward for iOS even before it gets cooking on iPad 2.

Then as for Geekbench, not a whole lot has changed. It’s gone down a tiny bit, but not enough to make a big impact on how your device will be cruising along. Geekbench is the opposite of SunSpider in that the resulting number is better as it is higher:
iPad 1 with iOS 4.21: 453
iPad 1 with iOS 4.3: 448

See all these results in person in the gallery below.

If you’d like to perform these same benchmarks on your own system, head over to the Geekbench app or the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark webpage and tell us what you got!

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Microsoft Touts Over 10 Million Kinect Sensors and Games Sold To Date

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 10:52 AM PST

The Guinness World Records seems to be quite active lately bestowing titles for the largest Lady Gaga gatherings to the fastest 1 million Twitter followers reached by Charlie Sheen. Today, a new record has been set for the fastest selling consumer electronics device that’s surprisingly not an Apple device but rather the Microsoft Kinect.

Sales data collected from the first 60 days of launch—November 4, 2010 to January 3, 2011—show that the Microsoft Kinect sold 8 million units or an average of 133,333 units per day. This announcement comes in time for the latest release of the Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer’s Edition, which feature special sections on the Kinect.

"The sales figures here speak for themselves," said Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor for Guinness World Records. "According to independent research, no other consumer electronics device sold faster within a 60-day time span, which is an incredible achievement considering the strength of the sector."

And given this opportunity to tout a Guinness World Record, Microsoft is also revealing some information on new games and features coming this Spring. You will soon be able to use hand gestures and voice commands to control Netflix on Xbox LIVE, along with other services and partners such as Hulu Plus, ESPN, Last.fm, Sky, Canal+, and FOXTEL.

Besides a slew of game titles including Kung Fu Panda 2, The Gunstringer, Michael Jackson The Experience, and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, to name a few, a new Avatar Kinect feature poses an interesting social entertainment experience that could be hours of hilarity with friends. With Avatar Kinect you will be able to bring your avatar to life as it mimics your every movement and expression from smiling, frowning, nodding and speaking. Up to seven friends can have a virtual avatar hangout party that can be captured as animated videos to be shared on Facebook.

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Apple iOS 4.3 Available Now [Download Here]

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 10:27 AM PST

This is the real one, not the beta, not the beta after the beta. Apple has today, just a few moments ago, released iOS 4.3, the newest operating system for its mobile line of devices. This update was said to have been slated for Friday, March 11, 2011, right alongside the release of the iPad 2, but it turns out they’ve decided to slip this newness out the gate a tiny bit early – perhaps to stir the masses?

This new update will work on available for iPhone (3GS, 4), iPod touch (3rd and 4th gen), iPad, iPad 2 and Apple TV. Lucky you, we’ve got all the direct downloads ready and willing to go below. This update is what you’re gonna want if you have ANY of the devices just listed of course, as it adds Personal Hotspot for the iPhone, AirPlay support for Mobile Safari as well as 3rd-partyy apps, the fabulous new Nitro engine, iTunes library streaming on local networks with Home Sharing, and several other Safari mobile improvements.

iPhone 4
iPhone 3GS
iPod touch 3rd gen
iPod touch 4th gen
iPad
Apple TV

Of course, you could always also just plug in to iTunes, if you wanted.

Then there’s tiny yet awesome improvements such as the iPad’s new ability to choose if they’d like to use their side switch as a rotation lock or a mute button, the new Personal Hotspot tethering’s ability to connect to three devices over Wifi, three over Bluetooth, and one over USB, and more! What are you waiting for silly, get to downloading!

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JP Morgan Analyst Predicts Bubble Burst For Apple iPad 2 Rivals

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 10:20 AM PST

Earlier in the week we talked about a report that concluded only 0.3% of the Earth’s population actually owned a tablet device according to data collected from late 2010. You would think that such a nascent market holds endless possibilities for all the tablet makers jumping in to compete with the Apple iPad, which has so far dominated the landscape with the first-one-there advantage. But the future, or at least the latter half of 2011, doesn’t bode so well for iPad 2 rivals according to JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz.

“In our view, the technical and form factor improvements of the iPad 2 stand to make it tougher for the first generation of competitive offerings to play catch-up, meaning actual shipments could fall well short of plan,” Moskowitz wrote.

Moskowitz believes that Apple iPad 2 rivals may face a bubble burst by the second half of this year, claiming that tablet makers will build approximately 65.1 million tablets in 2011. Considering that 47.9 million tablets were sold last year, he believes that companies may find themselves with as much as 51% oversupply.

He believes that Apple will continue to dominate the market and estimates 29 million iPads to be sold worldwide in 2011. The companies that may be most affected by a bubble burst are those in the supply chain. “Based on our research inputs, tablet makers eager to emulate Apple's meteoric start are trying to secure components with inflated build plans,” Moskowitz noted. “Of note, glass displays, processors, and, to a lesser extent, NAND Flash are the components that could be most at risk.”

“Aside from Motorola's Xoom and HP's TouchPad (which does not have a price tag yet), the competitive offerings appear to be light on attraction, in our view,” said Moskowitz.

[via Apple Insider]

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Windows Internet Explorer 9 to Launch at SXSW [Announcement Video]

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 09:53 AM PST

Ryan Gavin and Dean Hachamovitch, Marketing Guy and Engineer, respectively, for Internet Explorer, have announced that the final build and release of Internet Explorer 9 will indeed be at the party they’re throwing at South by Southwest in Texas on March 14th, 2011. They’ve decided to first announce this to their very favorite community at Channel9, a bunch of developers who are in love with the internet platform, and they’ve spoken here in a video at length what the browser will be able to do.

This browser has been in production for approximately a year, and now they’re going to release it, thanking profusely the community of developers who have stepped up to help them in making this a platform that has a chance at competing with the rest of the powerhouse browsers out in the market today. As you know, Internet Explorer

Hachamovitch will be doing a keynote at MIX 10 as well, showing off how the platform is rolling out, as a sort of “look what we did in a year” sort of thing. These two fellas sitting on the couch are super excited about this rollout and after saying what they came to say, they made sure to prompt Channel9 for what they call an “uncomfortable question.” What Channel9 decided to ask about was HTML5, to which they reply “WE’RE FOR IT!”

Of course the developer community knows this already, so the question is pressed, beyond what HTML5 can do for the everyday user, what does IE9 offer the fringe users who want features that not everyone will use? Hachamovitch replies with a sort of well, we DO do that, we’ve implemented things like Navigation Timing which “got 0% usage on the web,” he then going on to say that they’ve added items that don’t just come from developers who request things, they’ve essentially come up with elements that they and people at Yahoo, Google, and etc have spoken about behind the scenes, bringing these “fringe” features into IE9 at launch.

Essentially what they’re speaking about in this video and what will be coming with Internet Explorer 9 is depth as well as quality implementation of features. We’re hoping for the best!

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VeriFone launches anti-Square security campaign [Video]

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 09:02 AM PST

VeriFone has been making headlines recently with its NFC plans and potential Groupon button, but it seems the payments expert is also hoping to solidify its place in the market by sinking its upstart competitors. The company has kicked off new campaign claiming mobile payments service Square suffers “a serious security flaw”: because the Square credit card reader, which plugs into the headphone socket of your iPhone or iPad, doesn’t encrypt the data from the card, a malicious third-party could write an unofficial app that illegally collects your details.

Video demo after the cut

“A criminal signs up with Square, obtains the dongle for free and creates a fake Square app on his smartphone. Insert the dongle into the audio jack of a smartphone or iPad, and you’ve got a mobile skimming device that fits in your pocket and that can be used to illegally collect personal and financial data from the magnetic stripe of a payment card. It’s shockingly simple.

The issue is that Square’s hardware is poorly constructed and lacks all ability to encrypt consumers’ data, creating a window for criminals to turn the device into a skimming machine in a matter of minutes.” VeriFone

VeriFone has released one such sample app – which the company claims took less than an hour to script up – so that users can try it themselves. Meanwhile they’ve also sent a copy to Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and JP Morgan Chase (Square’s credit card processor), along with the suggestion that systems like Square “will seriously jeopardize the integrity and security of the payment infrastructure and financial systems.”

Now, Square hasn’t ever claimed that the readers they supply free of charge are anything other than simple ways to convert magnetic stripe information to audio signals that the official app can understand. Frankly, if you hand your card over to someone with malicious intent – whether they’re using Square, cloning your card with any number of different gadgets, or just copying down the numbers on the front – then you’re likely to encounter fraud at some point down the line.

The fact that the Square reader is, in effect, a quicker shortcut than punching in those numbers doesn’t seem to have registered with VeriFone. Square is yet to comment, but we can’t imagine we’ll have heard the end of this, especially with VeriFone getting the industry heavyweights involved and making public just the sort of app that they’re warning could be developed.

[youtube ObGQxSuORy0]

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Voltitude folding electric bike packs Swiss style [Video]

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 08:39 AM PST

We’re big fans of folding bikes here at SlashGear, ever since reviewing Sinclair Research’s seriously small A-Bike, but an electric boost to our feeble geeky legs is always welcome. Swiss firm Voltitude is promising just that, a compact bike that can fold and unfold in seconds and which uses a 9.5Ah Li-Poly battery good for up to 18 miles.

Video demo after the cut

Inspired by a city scooter, the Voltitude bike has disc brakes and is rear-wheel drive; it has integrated front and rear LED lighting, and takes around four hours to charge with a power supply said to be around the same size as you’d have for a laptop. When folded you can trundle the bike along next to you, or hit the “walk” mode button and have it power along at up to 3.7mph (or roughly walking pace).

A five, seven or eight speed gearbox and up to 15.5mph top speed (with some pedal assistance) round out the key specs. Currently the Voltitude bike is being sold in limited numbers as part of a trial in Switzerland, but the company expects to broaden that to worldwide sales in September. No word on pricing, however.

[via Born Rich]

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Qbo open-source robot no longer naked

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 08:11 AM PST

It’s been a while since we’ve seen movement from the Qbo open-source robot project; last we heard, the tubby little ‘bot had been fully spec’d up and the company was hard at work on speech recognition and a custom Ubuntu OS. Now the company has taken delivery of a whole heap of final chassis molds, ready to clad the naked Qbo you can see waiting patiently for its new outfit.

If you’re not up to speed, Qbo is Francisco Paz’s attempt to bring DIY robotics to a more affordable price point, using a combination of off-the-shelf hardware and custom software. The latter will be released under an open-source license, meaning anybody can build their own ‘bot; we’re presuming that the option to buy an official chassis – and maybe even a completely pre-built Qbo – will also be on the cards.

Head molds for the robot arrived back in January – shown below – though it seems we’re still some way off having our own personal voice-activated butler. Expect stereoscopic vision, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, obstacle avoidance and more when Qbo finally reaches release status.

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Verizon’s DROID X2 just DROID X with memory slash

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 08:04 AM PST

Looks like Motorola’s Verizon DROID X2 isn’t the powerhouse update we were hoping for. An anonymous tipster from SCK Kiosks – a Radio Shack subsidiary – sent our sibling site Android Community a screenshot suggesting that rather than a wholesale update, the Verizon DROID X2 was in fact a new SKU of the original DROID X with a 2GB memory card pre-installed rather than a 16GB card.

According to the screenshot, which apparently comes from SCK Kiosks’ internal systems, the new version of the Android smartphone will be priced identically to the model it replaces. There’s no other mention of hardware changes, so it looks like Motorola hasn’t boosted the integrated memory to counter the smaller microSD, either.

So, if you were thinking of picking up a DROID X, then we’d recommend getting down to stores sooner rather than later before the DROID X2 stock takes over and you get a smaller card for your money. Looks like the ATRIX 4G keeps its flagship position for the moment.

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Beastly NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 release dated

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:44 AM PST

AMD was originally tipped to be waiting on NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 590 to arrive before launching the Radeon HD 6990, but the company pulled the trigger on the “world’s fastest graphics card” earlier this week. That leaves the coast clear for the GTX 590, which according to Expreview is scheduled to arrive on March 22 2011.

That puts the GeForce GTX 590 just two weeks away. The video card is expected to have dual GF110 GPUs, with a total of 1024 CUDA cores paired with 3GB of GDDR5 memory. Twin 8-pin power ports help the NVIDIA card gulp down its 375W TDP.

NVIDIA will no doubt be hoping to take AMD’s crown before it’s had a chance to settle on the HD 6990′s head, and the company could be using gaming to do that. March 22 is also the expected launch date for Crysis 2.

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TiVo Hulu Plus trials starting; iPad streaming a possibility

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:23 AM PST

TiVo is reportedly readying to bring Hulu Plus to its DVRs, with a TiVo Premiere owner claiming to have been invited to join a field trial of the new service. Meanwhile, according to Engadget‘s sources, a customer survey sent to other TiVo subscribers suggests the company is considering iPad streaming functionality as well.

Among the topics in the survey was a question asking users how they might feel about being able to “stream live TV, DVR recordings and TV shows from a cable company’s On Demand library to one’s iPad.” While there’s no guarantee that a positive response from subscribers will actually see iPad streaming enabled, TiVo does already have an iPad app which supports previews on the Apple slate.

TiVo first talked about Hulu Plus functionality back in September 2010, though since then there’s been no movement on the service.

 

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BlackBerry PlayBook dumped Marvell for TI chip (and six month delay)?

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:04 AM PST

It’s obviously chipset roundabout day, with word that Apple is ditching Samsung for the Apple A5 SoC in the iPad 2 followed by news that Texas Instruments scooped Marvell on the BlackBerry PlayBook processor six months into its RIM contract. According to TechEye‘s source at Marvell, the 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP4430 at the heart of the PlayBook was not RIM’s first choice, and in fact the Canadian company had been working for over half a year with the chipset rival.

“Marvell was having some serious problems getting the software to work with the hardware” the source at the company claims. “The team was just taking too long and there were issues that weren't being resolved quickly enough.” The exact processor Marvell and RIM were considering has not been specified, but it’s likely one of the 6xx series; early rumors prior to the PlayBook’s official debut had suggested Marvell was supplying the silicon for the slate.

Texas Instruments, meanwhile, was forced to admit earlier in the year that NVIDIA had beaten them to the punch with the dual-core Tegra 2, with “a couple of months, maybe a quarter lead on our OMAP 4 product” according to investor relations VP Ron Slaymaker. Had TI been involved with RIM from the start, it’s possible that the PlayBook could have beat the XOOM and other Tegra 2 based tablets to market.

[via BerryReview]

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Nokia E6-00 leaks: Refreshed Symbian on QWERTY/touch candybar

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:21 AM PST

Nokia’s E6-00 smartphone has leaked, the apparent successor to the Nokia E72. The QWERTY device runs Symbian^3, but unlike its predecessors has a touchscreen display for easier use. It will also run the updated version of Symbian, complete with four homescreens – rather than the three panes we’ve seen on the N8, C7 and E7 – and more flexible widgets.

Otherwise we’re expecting a 640 x 480 screen – higher than Nokia’s usual nHD 640 x 360 panels – together with WCDMA/HSPA and WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE. There’s also talk of an 8-megapixel autofocus camera complete with an LED flash, but we’re yet to see the rear of the E6-00 to know for sure.

We’d pondered whether the E6-00 would make its debut at MWC 2011 last month, but Nokia avoided launching any handsets and instead announced its deal with Microsoft. Whether the E6-00 will meet the exacting standards of the company’s existing QWERTY candybar users remains to be seen; they proved generally unimpressed with the transition between the E71 and E72.

[via My Nokia Blog]

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Opera Mini yanked from GetJar over app store competition

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:06 AM PST

Opera may have beat rivals like Amazon to the punch with its new Opera Mobile Store, offering browser-based access to apps across various mobile platforms, but the new service has had an undesired side-effect: getting Opera Mini booted from GetJar. The download service confirmed this morning that “Due to violations of our T&C’s Opera Mini has been banned from GetJar,” going on to suggest that users “download Bolt, UCweb, Dolphin, Layar or Sqauce and others as needed” instead.

A subsequent tweet pinned the blame on Opera’s new Mobile Store service, which is a competitor to GetJar’s own business. “[Opera] placed an app store in their browser. one thing we can’t do is promote competing app stores ;)” the message read, with a full explanation promised sometime today.

Opera is yet to comment officially itself on the matter, though we’re guessing the company won’t be too impressed by GetJar’s decision. Still, as we saw when Apple gave Opera a 17+ rating in the Mac App Store, the company does have a sense of humor about its competitors.

[via mocoNews]

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Apple ditching Samsung for A5 iPad 2 processor?

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:49 AM PST

Apple has reportedly ditched Samsung for the Apple A5 dual-core processor at the heart of the iPad 2, taking up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) for production of the current-gen 40nm chip and a future 28nm version. According to EETimes‘ source, Samsung’s increasing role as an iPad and iPhone competitor led Apple to TSMC’s door.

Meanwhile, the manufacturer is also apparently known for having the highest yielding 40nm process in the foundry world, along with the most 40nm capacity at present. Considering the number of iPad 2 shipments Apple reportedly plans for Q2 2011 alone, and the fact that the iPhone 5 is expected to also use the Apple A5, the company needs a supplier capable of meeting its ambitious production schedule.

The existing iPhone 4 and iPad both use Apple’s A4 1GHz chipset, a single-core SoC co-developed with Samsung (and which the Korean company went on to use as the Hummingbird CPU in the Galaxy Tab slate and Galaxy S smartphone). Even if Apple shuns Samsung for the A5, the company is still reportedly dependent on its rival’s flash memory and displays.

[via AppleInsider]

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Geek creates DIY pulse laser pistol that can burn plastic and melt foam

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:37 AM PST

I have played with many of the high-power laser pointers over the years from various makers. The pointers are cool to play with because they can melt plastic and burn things, but they don’t they don't look that cool. A geek has taken it upon himself to make his own pulse laser pistol and this is what those laser pointers should look like.

The gun is called the DIY Pulse Laser Gun and was built by Patrick Priebe. The builder says that the gun has a small pulse laser head with a kW-pulse of infrared coherent light. A single shot can punch through a razor blade, plastic, and 5mm thick Styrofoam when focused.

The range of the gun is 3M for dark surfaces and the shot will make a stinging flame and leave a 5mm stain behind. I bet it would burn your skin pretty well too. I don't even want to think about what it would do to your eye. The gun is about 320mm long and weighs two pounds.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

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Hydrophilic H2O Shower Radio is designed for the shower

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:22 AM PST

If you can't wake up in the morning without a nice hot shower and some tunes, a new radio will let you combine those two necessities in one device that won’t fry when it gets wet. The gadget is called the H2O Shower Powered Radio and the thing is more than just a waterproof radio. It gets all the power it needs to operate directly from the water flow in your shower.

The radio uses a small H2O micro turbine that drives a generator inside the radio to create power to operate. The radio has an internal battery that recharges as you run the shower. The radio is green and harnesses energy in the shower that is wasted.

The radio connects to a shower hose and will work with 99% of all showers. Perhaps showers elsewhere are different, but none of the showers anywhere I have ever lived would work with this thing. The radio can be purchased now in Europe for £34.99.

[via Techdigest.tv]

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Pioneer VSX-1021 AV Receiver supports Apple AirPlay

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:39 AM PST

Pioneer has unveiled the first in a new series of AV receivers that will support Apple AirPlay. The new receiver is the VSX-1021 and it sells for a surprisingly low price of $549.99. The receiver supports 7.1-channel sound and the big feature is certainly the support for Air Play. The receiver can receive music streamed from iTunes and play it on you home theater system and it can connect too your network with integrated Ethernet support.

The receiver also has an optional WiFi receiver for wireless connectivity. The receiver is also designed to work with the iPad, iPhone, and iPod as well with an included USB video cable for the device so no dock is needed. The Apple gadgets will also charge while they are docked. The system allows you to listen to music from your iPhone and view the album art on your TV and it can steam other content from your device like YouTube and more.

The Apple gear can also be used as a remote control for the receiver with an app that is available for download. The VSX-1021 supports Bluetooth streaming as well for any smartphone or device with Bluetooth connectivity. Other features include Internet Radio and lots more. The receiver has five HDMI 1.4a inputs and can upscale to 1080p via HDMI.

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Pokemon Black and White versions shatter US franchise game sales record

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:25 AM PST

My son has a DS and loves the Pokémon games. He went bonkers when we walked into Walmart and they had hoards of the White and Black version of the Pokémon game that launched back over the weekend. Apparently, in many areas there were huge lines to get hands on the games.

Nintendo has announced that the Black and White versions of the game combined have beat the US sales record of Pokémon games. The record was previously held by the Diamond and Pearl versions that launched in 2007 with a combined sales total of 780,000 units in one day. The new game version has handily beaten that record.

Nintendo reports that combined the new White and Black versions sold 1.08 million units in one single day on March 6. The new game adds 150 new Pokémon for players to play and a new area called Unova. The last few days has been nothing but talk of evolution and new Pokemon in my house.

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