Archive for August, 2012

We’d be lying if we told you that we fully expected to be hanging out with 50 Cent when we traveled around the world to Berlin, but earlier today we grabbed a moment with the Queens-based emcee to discuss his venture into the world of high-end headphones. In particular, we wanted to ask how his products, including the new Street On-Ears and Street DJ Pros, stack against some better known rapper-endorsed audio technology — namely Dr. Dre’s gimmicky Beats and his tie-in with HTC. For starters, 50 was keen to stress that this is no plain endorsement: Studio Master Sound (SMS) Audio is his company and he’s invested in it

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50 Cent talks up two new headphones in his SMS Audio line (video)

We’d be lying if we told you that we fully expected to be hanging out with 50 Cent when we traveled around the world to Berlin, but earlier today we grabbed a moment with the Queens-based emcee to discuss his venture into the world of high-end headphones. In particular, we wanted to ask how his products, including the new Street On-Ears and Street DJ Pros, stack against some better known rapper-endorsed audio technology — namely Dr. Dre’s gimmicky Beats and his tie-in with HTC. For starters, 50 was keen to stress that this is no plain endorsement: Studio Master Sound (SMS) Audio is his company and he’s invested in it.

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50 Cent adds two more headphones to his SMS Audio line (video)

The team responsible for open sourcing webOS — composed primarily of HP employees — has hit the beta milestone for Open webOS 1.0 today, which is on track with the schedule HP originally announced for the platform in January. Though there’s no specific hardware compatibility mentioned, we already have a sense of the plan here: the project is trying to align the kernel with Android’s so that it can draft off of hardware that’s been designed to run it. In the meantime, the package ships with an ARM emulator. All told, Open webOS now has 54 open sourced components under its belt totaling some 450,000-odd lines of code.

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Open webOS reaches beta milestone: ‘we delivered on our promise’

So you just bought a Nokia Lumia 900 and are wondering how on Earth you’ll get all your old phone’s data over to that new Windows Phone. Nokia and Mark/Space have you covered with a new, Lumia -tuned Welcome Home to Windows Phone app. The Mac- and Windows-based utility goes beyond just shuffling calendars, contacts and media; if you’re jumping ship from Android, a BlackBerry or an iPhone, it will scan apps linked to the outgoing hardware and offer QR codes to download either direct or close-enough equivalents for the Windows Phone world. Fresh Lumia owners might appreciate the price more than anything — unlike the Android porting tool, the Lumia version is a free treat just for joining the Nokia flock

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Mark/Space Welcome Home eases us into new Nokia Lumias, lifts the burden of app hunting

Masterful cigarette magic by Cyril Takayama.

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Astonishing cigarette magic

It’s been a year since the legendary guitar amp and speaker makers at Marshall Amplification made a splash in consumer audio with its Marshall Headphones spin-off ( Zound / Urbanears ). In commemorence of the amplification division’s 50th aniversary, both have announced the Hanwell: Marshall’s first speaker rig that’s made for a counter-top instead of a festival stage . Combo guitar amp / speaker meets HiFi speaker. Most anyone who plays guitar, or has seen the likes of Slash and Nigel Tufnel shredding it up, will immediately recognize the iconic Marshall design ethic down to its iconic plastic nameplate on the front grill and gold accents. There’s no major tech at play inside of the system, but with looks this cool it’s not like it matters — hopefully, the sound quality will match.

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Marshall’s Hanwell HiFi speaker: bred from guitar amps, at-home with your PMP

It’s Friday, and that means not a whole lot of news happened today. But don’t worry, because a lot of news about next week happened. 90 whole seconds of news. And we’re going to talk about it. To a camera.

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90 Seconds on the Verge: Friday, August 31, 2012

Legendary psychotronic film studio Troma Entertainment, maker of such cinematic masterpieces as The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke’em High, and Redneck Zombies, has put 150 movies (including some classics that it distributes) on YouTube for free viewing. Above is the 1932 film White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi. It’s considered to be the first zombie film

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Troma Entertainment: 150 free films on YouTube

Last year, Razer announced its expansion to the PC making business with the introduction of the Blade , a 17-inch gaming notebook with an aluminum chassis and thin profile comparable to a MacBook Pro. But despite garnering acclaim for its design and multitouch touchscreen trackpad, the Blade was criticized for being overpriced and underpowered . Now, Razer is taking those grievances head-on, refreshing the Blade with more powerful processors, more storage, and a $300 price cut.

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Razer Blade gaming laptop refresh answers critics with more power, $300 price cut

The 17-inch behemoths that call themselves gaming notebooks are traditionally quite large, trading extreme performance for substantial bulk . These machines routinely flirt with double digit weigh-ins, and flaunt meaty 1.5-plus inch bezels. They represent a unwieldy reality in portable power that most gamers have learned to expect. Not Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan , however — he’s still chasing the dream: thin, powerful and sleek. Tan caught up with us this week to brief us on the next generation Razer Blade, a rig that still boldly claims to be the “world’s first true gaming laptop.” Razer’s first laptop hit shelves earlier this year, packing a 2.8GHz Core i7-2650M CPU and a GeForce GT 555M GPU into a svelte 0.8-inch aluminum shell.

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Second generation Razer Blade laptop sharpens its edge with GTX 660M, unannounced Core i7 CPU

Live from a hotel room deep within the Euro Zone, it’s the Engadget Podcast. This week it’s all IFA all the time; if you’re not quite sure what IFA should mean to you, we’ll just put it this way: it’s a lot like CES, but with more stollers. ¡Prost! Hosts: Brian Heater Guests: Joseph Volpe, Mat Smith Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Orbital – Never 06:28 – Huawei shows off early version of Emotion UI for Android, packs a ‘stock’ skin too (hands-on) 10:00 – Sony @ IFA 12:15 – Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on) 22:05 – Hands-on with the Samsung ATIV Smart PC (aka the Series 5 Slate) 27:10 – ASUS 15-inch Zenbook U500: Ivy Bridge, optional NVIDIA graphics and a full numpad (update: hands-on) 29:19 – HTC Desire X hands-on (video) 30:12 – Panasonic’s 145-inch 8K PDP eyes-on (video) 34:00 – Haier celebrates IFA with ultra high def 3D, transparent and eye-controlled TVs Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [ iTunes ] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [ RSS MP3 ] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically

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Engadget Podcast 308: IFA Edition – 08.31.2012

Although, yes, this is technically Samsung’s first Google TV device , a more accurate description for what we saw today at IFA would be that the company is adding Google TV-related apps to its already expansive SmartHub suite. But those three apps arguably make up the entire Google TV experience: Chrome (without Adobe Flash support), YouTube (updated from its previous version to be much snappier and support keyboards), and most importantly the Google Play store (with “most but not all of the Google TV apps,” according to a Samsung representative we spoke with). Using Samsung’s own Smart TV Wireless Keyboard is practically a requirement given all the search bars involved. It’s definitely a value add for Samsung’s lineup, but if you’ve… Continue reading…

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Samsung adds Google TV to its Smart TVs: Chrome, YouTube, and Google Play store (video)

The Eclipse , LG’s rumored ” superphone ” heading to AT&T, has just made it through the FCC approval process and is one step closer to seeing availability in time for the holiday season. Known also as the E970, the device unsurprisingly offers the usual AT&T LTE radios (band 4 and 17) but much like we’ve seen in other FCC applications recently, it also tacks on an additional two next-gen radios (bands 2 and 5), likely to get ready for an impending spectrum refarm attempt. From the docs we also learn that the Eclipse will have NFC along with the expected HSPA+ / UMTS / EDGE connectivity. As a recap, the device is rumored to offer a quad-core Krait APQ8064 and a 4.67-inch display with 1,280 x 768 resolution.

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LG E970 Eclipse for AT&T cruises through FCC approval

New submitter submeta writes “Katsunobu Imai at Hiroshima University has figured out a way to construct a universal Turing machine using cellular automata in a Penrose tile universe. ‘Tiles in the first state act as wires that transmit signals between the logic gates, with the signal itself consisting of either a ‘front’ or ‘back’ state. Four other states manage the redirecting of the signal within the logic gates, while the final state is simply an unused background to keep the various states separate.’ He was not aware of the recent development of the Penrose glider, so he developed this alternative approach.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Universal Turing Machine In Penrose Tile Cellular Automata

The “multi view” concept isn’t new, even if it still lacks a quick-and-easy description. In essence, it’s two videos signals stacked on one another — using special polarizing glasses not entirely unlike 3D specs to “isolate” a (two-dimensional) signal and thereby allowing two or more people to watch different videos on the same TV. LG has it with Dual Play and Sony with PlayStation 3D Display . Samsung’s demonstration at its IFA 2012 booth didn’t play up the multiplayer gaming aspect like the last aforementioned predecessors, but it did showcase the technology on gorgeous 55-inch OLED TVs.

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Samsung OLED Multi View stacks two separate videos on one gorgeous 55-inch TV (video)

During WWII the allies dropped millions upon millions of tons of explosives upon Germany; to halt German war production. Its not infrequent for German authorities to remove, destroy or incapacitate old ordinance. This bomb was found in Munich’s lovely Schwabing neighborhood and could not be defused. It was decided to explode the bomb in place

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Controlled demolition of unexploded WWII bomb in Munich

A giant man is burning somewhere in the desert, and Myriam is currently gazing upon him. In her absence, Brad will be joined by fellow Engadgeteers Dana Wollman and Jon Fingas to discuss the latest happenings at IFA (as well as the rest of the world). We’ve got a lot to discuss in a very short period of time, so the ratio of mobile geekery / minute is going to be pretty dang high. Join us at 3pm! August 31, 2012 3:00 PM EDT Continue reading Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 3pm ET! Filed under: Announcements , Mobile Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 3pm ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

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Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 3pm ET!

In Neuromancer , Snow Crash , Johnny Mnemonic , Hackers , and just about every other chilling pseudo-cyberpunk vision of the future, there are two worlds. One is physical, where Real Death is possible, and where you choke on the pollution of New Tokyo-Beijing or whatever. The other world is virtual. You play an avatar in that world, or perhaps just a disembodied viewpoint, or you get polygonal hands to wave out in front of you, but there is only one virtual reality. If you’re on the network, you’re on The Network.

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Offline: avatars and alts

See that? It’s not your daddy’s flip hybrid tablet — it’s the new dual-display laptop prototype from the fine people at Samsung. The body of the notebook is certainly in the vein of a MacBook Air or ultrabook, with slim metal slides that taper off into a point. The palm rests, meanwhile, are a brushed metal, with black chiclet-style keys above. On the bezel above the screen is a camera

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Samsung’s dual-display Windows 8 laptop and other prototypes, hands-on

If you thought Mophie was planning to keep its smartphone Juice Packs exclusively Apple-based — we’d have probably agreed with you. But then we got to take a look at this pair of cases crafted for Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Yep, the battery-packing cover (which looks likely to fit all the current iterations) promises to give “over double the battery life” of your un-augmented handset. This was just a brief peek — but expect the (as-yet unpriced) cases to appear in stores around the end of October, early November. Filed under: Cellphones , Peripherals , Mobile Mophie readies Galaxy S III Juice Packs, coming very soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:42:00 EDT

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Mophie readies Galaxy S III Juice Packs, coming very soon

More details about the Samsung Galaxy Stellar 4G LTE , Verizon’s upcoming budget offering, are now surfacing from the midst of the carrier’s internal systems. Our source has confirmed that the Stellar is now expected to launch on September 6th, and has provided some documentation that reveals the vast majority of the phone’s spec sheet. Starter Mode once again gets mentioned here — according to the docs, it’s a “new, simple way to interact Access apps and control device settings with ease.” As far as specs go, these docs back up the details leaked on Best Buy’s website earlier: Android 4.0, a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 3.2MP rear camera and 1.3MP front-cacing cam and 800 x 480 WVGA display. Additionally, Amazon Kindle, Audible and Zappos apps are mentioned, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and 4GB internal storage. Dimensionally, the phone will weigh 4.73 ounces and measures 121.92 x 63.75 x 11.94mm (yes, that last measurement is for thickness)

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More Samsung Galaxy Stellar details spill, September 6th launch appears likely

A fun and infectious music video from our friends at Toca Boca, developer of apps for kids. It appears to be a teaser for an upcoming title.

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Toca Boca music video

It’s perfectly understandable that recent Galaxy S III purchasers are anxious to hear Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will make its way to Samsung’s flagship, and now we’ve finally found the updated version on the device at IFA 2012 in Berlin. The Galaxy S III in question is Vodafone Germany’s yet-to-be-released LTE variant (GT-i9305), and, completely as expected, it’s no different than what we saw on the Galaxy Note II earlier this week . Many of Android 4.1′s changes are obscured under Samsung’s heavy TouchWiz skin, though Google Now and the new voice features are, of course, present. The noticeable improvement that we noticed on the Galaxy Nexus thanks to Project Butter wasn’t nearly as apparent on the Galaxy S III, unfortunately.

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Samsung Galaxy S III running Android Jelly Bean: our first look

Just like that, HP is making good on its promise to release Open webOS in beta. The code is available today under the Apache 2.0 license, and is landing slightly ahead of schedule (HP long ago said the software would arrive in September). All told, the beta release is comprised of 54 components, totaling more than 450,000 lines of code. As you’d expect, too, the desktop build incorporates all the elements released so far on Ubuntu. The software also includes an ARM emulator, running db8, node.js and other services.

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Open webOS beta will become available to developers today

Samsung’s going all out with its Galaxy Camera accessory lineup. In addition to the cases and Flip Covers we saw at Unpacked earlier this week, the company had some external flashes and professional-looking holsters on hand at its IFA booth, including a grip-mounted adjustable strobe, a ring light set and a sophisticated carrying rig, complete with hinged barn doors to block out unwanted glare. There were also hard covers in multiple dark colors, a handful of soft rubber-looking covers in light colors like aqua and lime green, along with an oversized wireless charging pad mock-up. In typical IFA fashion, booth attendants were unable to provide any information whatsoever, so it’s anyone’s guess what any of these gadgets cost, or if they’ll even make it to market.

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Samsung Galaxy Camera accessories include flashes, wireless charging pad, barn doors (eyes-on)