Archive for June, 2011
Chromebook boards Virgin America, checks-in at Ace Hotel for summer vacation
Author: Conrad Thomas
How do you solve a consumer education problem like the Chromebook? You put it into the idle hands of urbanite travelers — that’s how. The fast-booting neither laptop, nor netbook entity with negligible storage and not-yet-defined purpose will find a temporary summer home at select Virgin America gates and New York’s Ace Hotel starting Friday. Jet-setters flying between San Francisco and either Chicago O’Hare, Dallas / Fort Worth, or Boston Logan can get an on-the-fly, marketing-fortified crash course in Chrome OS computing by visiting special ‘Chrome zones’ located near departure gates. Virgin’s also thrown in some free in-flight WiFi to ensure you test drive Google’s Cloud-dependent lap-dweller . And if you’re one of the millions of tourists planning on seeing the Big Apple in all its humid splendor, the Ace Hotel’s got an on-the-house stash that lobby lizards can use, but only guests can take out. But the promotional push doesn’t just stop there: all partners involved have bundled specialized travel-planning apps into the experience — sure to be ripe with cooler-than-thou recommendations. It’s a noble attempt by our search giant overlord to make a name for its portable computing entrant, and a helpful distraction from that armrest hog next to you.
Continue reading Chromebook boards Virgin America, checks-in at Ace Hotel for summer vacation
Chromebook boards Virgin America, checks-in at Ace Hotel for summer vacation originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Steam Summer Camp Sale Now Underway!
Author: Conrad Thomas
Steam’s big Summer Camp Sale starts today! Not that you can buy anything right now, since the store is buckling under the weight of the traffic. Reddit user Remmib has put together a nice little listing of most of the deals here, but you might want to wait an hour or two before trying to get in there.
Some standouts: Valve Complete Pack (Portal 2 included) for $ 50, Borderlands for $ 5, a great id pack for $ 30, and the Rockstar Collection for $ 40. Ah, Summer!
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Sony’s S1 tablet spotted in the wild, S2 captured briefly on video
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Continue reading Sony’s S1 tablet spotted in the wild, S2 captured briefly on video
Sony’s S1 tablet spotted in the wild, S2 captured briefly on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft Takes A Few Minutes To Laud The New Surface
Author: Brian McKinnell
It’s a bit of a random time for a video like this, seeing as the announcement was back at CES and we had a nice, thorough hands-on with the new SUR40 Surface then, but hey. Maybe you missed it. If you don’t mind a little redundancy (and of course, the ever-present soft techno), this is a nice way to catch up on Microsoft’s Surface project.
I won’t lie, I was hoping for a little more substantial information about the PixelSense sensor array, maybe what they’re doing with it (like maybe Windows 8, hello), some cool stuff it does, etc. Oh well. Here’s our hands-on, by the way:
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The New 3-D: Kinetic Movie Theater Seating
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You know what the problem with a lot of movies coming out is? THEY BLOW. They were poorly written, grossly over-marketed, and suck nards. Not because they aren’t watched in seats that move. But has that stopped D-Box (D-Bag’s cardboard older brother) from developing ‘kinetic motion theater chairs’ to jiggle your ass when there’s an explosion on screen? Sadly, it did not. Per Roger Ebert, who was clearly paid off or owns a stake in the company:
D-BOX Motion Code [technology] uses motion effects specifically programmed for each film, TV series or video game, which are sent to a motion generating system integrated within either a platform or a seat. The resulting motion is perfectly synchronized with all onscreen action, creating an unmatched realistic immersive experience.
Great, so not only am I gonna be pissed the movie sucked, but I’m gonna leave with motion sickness. God, whatever happened to making movies that don’t rely on 3-D or some other shticky bullshit to be enjoyable? I miss those days. If I had a time machine I’d go back to that time and see Nirvana in concert. *wails on air-guitar*
Would you go to the movies for a ‘kinetic theater chair’? [dvice]
Thanks to Lucius, who likes his movie seats how he likes his fancy paper: stationary. Also, who had a birthday last night so today’s writing is all his fault. GOD, YOU JUST HAD TO GET OLDER.
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AMD Llano desktop APU gets reviewed: the best integrated graphics in town
Author: Jenny Zhao
AMD is due to release a batch of new Llano APUs next month that are specifically tailored to desktops rather than laptops. The most powerful among them will be the 2.9GHz A8-3850, which has already caused a stir on the review circuit for one simple reason: it pulls off a brutal “one shot one kill” on Intel’s HD 3000 integrated graphics. AnandTech raised an impressed eyebrow at the fact that all its benchmarking games were playable on the $ 135 AMD chip, which roughly doubled frame rates in titles like Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2 and World of Warcraft compared to the more expensive Sandy Bridge i5 2500K. TechSpot declared the APU its “new budget king,” with graphical performance “on another level” compared even to an i7.
However, the superlatives quickly evaporated once reviewers shifted their focus to the CPU. TechReport spotted that pure CPU performance per dollar was actually lower than what you’d get from a lowly i3. Moreover, it reckoned you’d only have to spend an extra $ 70 to buy a much more powerful CPU and a separate graphics card — an option that comes “awfully close to making the A8-3850 seem irrelevant.” Ouch. Nevertheless, if an affordable processor with integrated graphics is what you’re after, then it’s fair to say this one sets the standard. Click the source links below for full reviews.
AMD Llano desktop APU gets reviewed: the best integrated graphics in town originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hublot’s Complicated F1 Tourbillon Chronograph Watch
Author: Jon Mitchell
I am not always sure what Jean-Claude Biver is thinking. The machine-gun minded Swiss CEO covers so many bases when deciding what new Hublot watches are made that it can be almost impossible to predict what will come next. However, I do know one thing: Mr. Biver is watch lover. It might sound ironic, or silly, but when a watch lover runs a watch brand, it is a good thing. And trust me, not all watch brand CEOs are watch lovers.
Read the rest here…
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iPhone 5 with Aluminium Back, Repositioned Camera Concept
Author: Gabe Hall
New concept photos of iPhone 5 have emerged that could make it to the final version. Taking most of the rumors into account, graphic designer Michal Bonikowski has offered the thoughtful concept mockups of iPhone 5 which is likely to hit in September this year. These iPad 2-inspired concept images clearly show thinner iPhone 5 with aluminum [...]
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Samsung announces 32GB microSD card capable of 12MBps write speeds
Author: Angela Chin
Continue reading Samsung announces 32GB microSD card capable of 12MBps write speeds
Samsung announces 32GB microSD card capable of 12MBps write speeds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Onkyo Latest To Pay Microsoft Royalties Over Android Tablets
Author: Jon Mitchell
Microsoft is on a roll. Onkyo is the latest company to trade Android tablet royalties for access to Microsoft’s patent licensing program. The details of the agreement wasn’t released. This makes Onkyo the third company this week that has signed such an agreement. Velocity Micro and General Dynamic’s Itronix brand joined the club just days ago.
“We are pleased that Onkyo has taken advantage of our patent licensing program for Android devices and has signed this agreement,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft. “This agreement and similar agreements recently announced evidence the momentum and success of our licensing program.”
Back in 2010 HTC became the first Android maker to sign on the dotted lined and has since been handing over royalities to Microsoft. It was reported that the deal might have HTC paying Microsoft $ 5 per handset sold. This is a major part of why Microsoft is making more money from Android that its own Windows Phone 7.
Other Android makers didn’t roll over so easily, though. Motorola and B&N are both fighting Microsoft regarding patents over their headlining products of the Droid 2, Droid X, and the Nook Color. But the pressure is likely mounting on those fighting as Microsoft gets more and more companies to fold.
