Betaenglish: breik
English: break
Spanish: romper
1665. Guitar Hero on the Nintendo DS to have peripheral, confirmed
Break open the Lambrini, as your wildest Guitar-Hero-on-the-DS dreams have come true. Plenty were dismayed when we heard reports earlier that the DS version of Guitar Hero would be using the stylus as the input device, as I'm sure we were all holding out for a portable mini-guitar. Weeeell...
2144. Hydrogen brewing gets an electrical boost
A new microbe-powered fuel-cell design can extract up to 99 percent of the available hydrogen from biological compounds, using microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) to enable microbes to break down organic materials completely, to just water, carbon di...
2320. Live-chatting whilst watching Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix? A reality, with HD DVD
Woohoo, HD DVD slides a victory over Blu-ray! Ok, it involves Harry Potter, so perhaps isn't *much* of a victory, but nonetheless! A victory! Break open the cava!
Apparently the forthcoming HD DVD Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix disc will give watchers Live...
2587. NEC Develops World's Fastest MRAM
Gary writes to tell us that NEC has developed a new SRAM compatible MRAM. The new memory module is capable of speeds up to 250MHz, the world's fastest to date. "MRAM are expected to generate new value and applications for future electronic devices thanks to their nonvolatility, unlimited write endurance, high speed operation, and ability to cut memory power dissipation in half. For example, these features could enable instant start up of PCs and prevent drive recorders from losing data after a sudden break in power in the future. As substitutes for system LSI-embedded SRAM, MRAM can provide even more value as they are expected to enable extremely low power dissipation of system LSIs because they can sleep when they are not in use and wake up instantly."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
2619. Poll: Extended warranties, necessity or shakedown?
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
As former tech retail geeks in another life, we know better than anyone the kind of pressure salespeople at the big box retailers put on adding extended (often 3rd party) warranties on gadget purchases. Oh sure, it preys on uninformed customers' fears that their expensive new toys will break down a exactly 91 days after purchase and they'll be left in the lurch -- but sometimes those warranties can actually come in handy. That is, if you can convince the warranty people to pony up, which is just a step below the frustration of dealing with most HMOs. So, what's your take on extended warranties?
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2638. The Pac-Man Christmas tree
Filed under: Gaming
Finally, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, and even old Pacster get some religious iconography happening for themselves. A creative group of X-mas-and-Pac-Man-loving cats and kittens in Madrid have created a truly festive monument to the holiday... and the video game. Check the video after the break for the whole, utility-burning display in action -- and commenters, feel free to translate.
[Via technabob]Continue reading The Pac-Man Christmas tree Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
2767. Facebook Removes Firewall from Applications
NewsCloud writes "Last week, Facebook quietly removed sign-in restrictions that previously hid third party applications from the public Web. In other words, Facebook now allows its third party applications to be viewable on the Web by anonymous visitors and indexable by search engines. Web developers can now build an application using Facebook's platform usable by anyone on the Internet — not just Facebook members (e.g. the Lending Library). In doing so, developers can leverage Facebook's login and registration as well its other platform services, which are becoming increasingly substantial. Facebook may be trying to gain advantage as a universal authentication gateway for public Web applications. If successful, it could further hamper efforts to establish OpenID. This will also help the company break out of its earlier AOL-like walled-garden strategy."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
2857. Hands-on with BetaBlue, JetBlue's WiFi-equipped Airbus
Filed under: Features, Transportation, Wireless
Generally we're the type to pass out the second we've stowed our carry-on items safely in the overhead bin, but on a recent test flight for a gang of reporters, photographers, Fortune 500 execs, and the obligatory PR team, JetBlue managed to keep us awake by magically letting us communicate with our friends and colleagues on the ground over IM and email.
Actually, it takes a lot more than magic for the Airbus A320 named "BetaBlue" to bring limited WiFi connectivity to properly-equipped passengers throughout the single-class cabin: quite a bit of technical and administrative work went into getting this service off the ground, from snatching up and deploying a rare slice of 800MHz ground-to-air spectrum to effectively managing cell tower connections while traveling over 500mph to developing clients that would maximize the precious bandwidth being shared by so many mobile gadget lovers. Keep reading after the break for all of our impressions from this media preview voyage, and don't forget to hit up the gallery below for glimpses of the entire experience along with some of the screenshots you can expect to see in-flight...
Gallery: Hands-on with BetaBlue, JetBlue's WiFi-equipped Airbus
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2880. ASUS brings the U6 laptops Stateside
Filed under: Laptops
For those of you infatuated by the Eee's stylish looks, but in need of something a little more powerful, it looks like ASUS may be answering your prayers today. Enter the U6S and U6E laptops, two handsome new models that should fit your power-hungry needs. The systems are built atop the much-loved Santa Rosa chipset, Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs (in a variety of speeds), up to 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drives, and offer either the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G or Intel's GMA X3100 GPU, 802.11a/b/g/n or 802.11a/b/g, plus a whole nasty mess of ports, jacks, inputs, outputs, and assorted doohickeys. Both are available now, starting at $1,749. Oh yeah, the laptops also utilize their built-in webcams to verify users via face recognition -- hit the videos after the break to see Engadget Chinese easily fake out the security.Continue reading ASUS brings the U6 laptops Stateside Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
2883. Wiimote repurposed for multi-point interactive whiteboard
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
While certainly there's been no shortage of Wiimote hacks, the number of genuinely useful ones has been considerably more limited. It looks like you can now add one more to that list, however, as Johnny Chung Lee (he of the Wiimote finger-tracking hack) has now upped the usefulness even further with a makeshift multi-point interactive whiteboard. There's a bit more involved with this one than just a Wiimote, however -- namely, an IR-emitting pen (or two), which the Wiimote tracks while relaying all the necessary information back to a PC. That, as the video after the break shows, allows you to turn any surface into a multi-point whiteboard with the use of a projector, or turn any LCD screen into a touchscreen, of sorts. Best of all, Johnny has kindly provided the necessary software free of charge, so hit up the read link below if you want to give it a shot.
[Via Hack a Day]
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2884. The Engadget Interview: Peter Chou, CEO of HTC
Filed under: Cellphones, Features, Interviews
If you were to make a shortlist of Engadget's most sought after executives, Peter Chou, CEO of arguably the most advanced cellphone manufacturer in the world, HTC, would be right near the top. We finally got a chance to sit down with the man who helped reshape what a cellphone could be (and in doing so put Windows Mobile on the map), and discussed HTC's new partnership with Google on Android, whether WinMo has a stagnant platform, challenges for companies trying to break into the US wireless market, and even the 700MHz spectrum auction. Talking with Peter was definitely a high point for us, check it out.
Thank you for sitting down with us.
Thank you! You have a very successful site.
Thank you. Yeah, well, we do our best, it's a lot of fun. So, Android is obviously huge news for you guys.
This is a significant announcement for us.
I assume that you guys have been working on this with Google for quite some time.
Yep. That's true.
Are we talking about, say, over a year that this has been in the works?
Two years. More than two years.
Then you've have been playing with Android, I imagine. If not on the HTC device (or devices) that you are working on, then at least some kind of build of the software. You've been fooling around with it and know what its like...
Yeah.
We didn't get too much of a sense of what this software is going to be about and what it's really like as a core experience. Can you tell me anything that you really like that Google has done with Android? And the things that you think that Android is really going to excel in? Things that you will be able to leverage in HTC hardware?
Maybe you can get a little more information [from the SDK]. But this is trying to be a more optimized experience of Google applications, and obviously the internet experience will be more optimized. So there are some things that I still think today are being... well, I'm a veteran in this industry and we've been working on this stuff for ten years and really waiting to see something which can really enhance the internet experience in these mobile devices. I believe in this system and I'm excited about its ability to perform well.Continue reading The Engadget Interview: Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
2891. VIA's ARTIGO Pico-ITX ultra-compact barebones
Filed under: Desktops
If you've been wanting to break into the exciting, fast-paced, cut-throat world of ultra-compact desktop PC construction, but didn't know where to begin, VIA has got your number. The company has just launched the ARTIGO Pico-ITX builder kit, a complete VIA-based system that you can snap together in the privacy of your own home. The bundle includes a Pico-ITX motherboard with a VIA C7 1GHz CPU, support for up to 1GB of RAM, IDE and eSATA connectors, VGA output, four USB ports, audio line in / out jacks, and 10/100 ethernet. The package includes everything but a hard drive and memory, and is available right now for around $300. Check the video after the break and experience the joy of construction.
[Thanks, Stewart]Continue reading VIA's ARTIGO Pico-ITX ultra-compact barebones Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
2896. Opinion: All YOU want for Christmas is an iGo!
So there I was, going away for a festive weekend break to the Christmas markets of Brussels in Belgium with the other half. Thankfully, I was taking Eurostar rather than flying and there's no real luggage restrictions. And what else was different about this trip to the dozens of foreign jaunts I've had in the past?
Well, for once I didn't have to lug about 73 different leads and chargers with me - making my bag feel like it's full of bricks and my shoulder cracking under the weight.
Yes, I've finally managed to break out the iGO I've had sitting in my cupboard for a few months and boy, is it one of those little life-changing gadgets that only really come around once in a while...
2903. The best thing I've heard so far at Le Web 3 - Hans Rosling, founder of Médecins Sans Frontières
"There are hundreds of types of wine, but I only know two types: red and white. I'm not interested in wines. I don't know wines - but I know more than two hundred types of countries. My neighbour, he knows hundreds of different types of wines, but he only knows two types of countries: western countries and third world countries. There are too many people who know wine and too few people who know countries."
If there's one thing you would ask of bloggers, what would you ask?
"Consider how all these blogging communites may enforce the ethnic homogeny of western europe and America. Break that...
2962. DIY hand-based 3D input
Filed under: Peripherals
If you've ever felt the burning desire to give your index finger a little more prominence in your day-to-day computing exercises, here's your chance. A DIY'er has combined an IR-based, homemade tracking system with a piece of software that he's coded which can translate the IR data into 3D navigation. So far, the system can track the movement of two hands using six individual points (we assume one per axis, per hand). Details are scarce on the project right now, but the prospect of manipulating onscreen images or spaces in three dimensions with a cheap and simple solution is definitely enticing. Check the video after the break to see a finger in action.Continue reading DIY hand-based 3D input Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
2976. iPhone gets video recording capabilities
Filed under: Cellphones
Thanks to another set of ambitious iPhone hackers, we've officially got video on Apple's wonder-device (that somehow omitted video to begin with). It's not much right now, but if you want, you can see your phone recording five succulent seconds of real-deal video at around 15 FPS. The developers say this is just a proof of concept, and they've been able to get up to 45 FPS on the device -- so hopefully we can expect a more robust version soon (like, say, one that lets you save the recording). Check the video after the break to see the gorgeous work in action.Continue reading iPhone gets video recording capabilities Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
3078. Jingle Bells played with graphics card, Santa wonders why
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
As if an office full of guitar-controlled lights weren't enough to get you in the holiday spirit, along comes a self-proclaimed geek to play Jingle Bells on his graphics card. We know, it's hard to really grasp what we mean, so jump on past the break to catch a video that will undoubtedly do our explaining for us.
[Via TheInquirer]Continue reading Jingle Bells played with graphics card, Santa wonders why Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments