Mini sold some 66,000 vehicles in the United States last year, and despite being on American soil (in its current incarnation, anyway) for just 13 years, this market has quickly become its biggest. Those drawn to the brand are likely intrigued by, if not outright enamored of, its quirkiness. Mini likes to say that the company is “Not Normal,” and it only takes a glance inside its cartoonish Countryman to see what that means.
During a recent kickoff event to celebrate the impending launch of its Paceman model, we sought to get beneath the sheet metal and gear ratios, instead looking at the kinds of decisions that impact the marriage of automobiles and technology. Turns out, Johnly Velasquez and Chris Potgieter — two gentlemen in charge of determining what technology ends up in Mini products — were more than happy to discuss those nuances. In particular, we discussed how those details relate to the future of its Connected platform, the role that infotainment plays in its entire range of motorcars and the opportunities that lie ahead for Mini to embrace alternative power.
Could Mini’s prioritization of technology as a pillar of automotive manufacturing influence the entire industry? That’s exactly what we’ll explore just beyond the break.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Mini
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With Mobile World Congress already on the horizon, it’s hardly a shock to see a new batch of smartphone leaks and rumors starting to make the rounds. HTC never fares well when it comes to keeping their new devices a secret, and today may be no different — the ever-listening Evleaks seems to have come through with new details on HTC’s forthcoming flagship, the Jelly Bean-powered M7.
Contrary to an earlier report from HTC Source, the M7 could sport a smaller 4.7-inch “SoLux” display instead of the 5-inch Super LCD2 panel that debuted on the J Butterfly and its U.S. cousin the Droid DNA. HTC doesn’t seem to be shying away from full HD though — the M7’s screen is still said to run at 1080p, which makes for an astonishing pixel density of 468ppi (the iPhone 5’s display comes in at 326ppi, while the Droid DNA’s 440ppi screen slips to second place).
Of course, pixel density isn’t all that goes into making a truly great display — the DNA had a mostly wonderful screen, but it sadly fell short when it came to overall brightness. Thankfully, Evleaks also notes that the so-called M7’s SoLux display also bolsters “viewing angles, outdoor visibility, and color accuracy,” which could go a long way in making the M7 the Android phone to own (for a while, at least). Meanwhile, a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm chipset is said to be running the show, along with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage — there’s no word on expandable memory yet, though I’ve got my fingers crossed that carriers won’t step in and make any questionable decisions.
Speaking of carriers, the juiciest new tidbit is also the most curious. Evleaks notes that the M7 will eventually find its way onto Verizon and Sprint’s store shelves after its international release (said to take place in Q1, remember?), and alludes to the possibility that the handset will be the first HTC device to be offered by each of the Big 4 U.S. wireless carriers in a long time. That may well be the case (I certainly hope it is), but some of these carriers tend to impose more dramatic changes of design than others, and the end result could be a device that falls short of the standard set by the international model and its all its inevitable variants.
Question by : What is a Zune? And is it like an i pod touch where you could call people? Idk saw it and am wondering!
Best answer:
Answer by TomWell, you cannot call people with neither an iPod touch nor a Zune, they are both mp3 players, (the ipod touch is different from the iPhone). A Zune is basically Microsoft’s version of an iPod. They are mp3 players designed by Microsoft. Again, you cannot call people on a Zune or an iPod touch, that is the IPHONE ONLY.
Hope I helped 
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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Finding clothes that fit just right is surprisingly tough for a sizable amount of the population, especially when shopping online. E-tailers have used everything from 3D scanners to mailable mannequins to ensure that customers find the best sizes for them, and the truly picky have probably had a friend break out a tape measure to get some exact numbers. A whole team of researchers is looking the simplify this process however, and put the power to easily get the right size at your fingertips. A group, including developers from the London College of Fashion, and experts from the University of Surrey and Guided, have come together to turn practically any camera into a virtual tape measure, including your smartphone or webcam. Since the image you capture has to be taken in your underwear, we wouldn’t suggest doing this in public, though. All you have to do is fire up the software, take the pic and punch in your height — the computer does the rest. With funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council the coalition is working to bring the system to market, with hopes of launching within the next two years. For a bit more check out the PR after the break.
[Shopping button via Shutterstock]
Continue reading Virtual tape measure could find you the perfect jeans with just a webcam
Filed under: Cameras
Via: PhysOrg
Source: EPSRC
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The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii are nearing their end. As powerful as they have been in the living room, gamers want more. They want better graphics, new user experiences, and more mobility, as much as those things can be at odds with one another. A new wave of game consoles is rising to meet some of those challenges, but perhaps not all: the Nintendo Wii U doesn’t seem to be that much more powerful than an Xbox 360, and the next Xbox and PlayStation are rumored to use what amounts to mid-range PC hardware in order to save costs.
Meanwhile, PCs haven’t stood still. There’s never been a better time to build a gaming PC, thanks to cheaper components and the amazing catalog of inexpensive games you can find on digital…
The always-informative evleaks has done it yet again. This time out it’s not a Lumia 920 or some revealing press shots of the PadFone 2, though — instead, what we have here is what appears to be a variant of Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy Mini. According to evleaks, this 4-inch handset will be officially known as the Galaxy Axiom (model SCH-R830), and could very well end up on US Cellular, bringing with it a WVGA display alongside a decent dual-core, 1.2GHz MSM8960 CPU, LTE and Ice Cream Sandwich. Naturally, take this with a grain of salt, but given the messenger’s recent track record, it also wouldn’t surprise us if we hear something more official in the days to come. In the meantime, however, it looks as if the picture above will have to suffice.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Alleged 4-inch Samsung Galaxy Axiom leaks, could be headed to US Cellular originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Note: Consider this your retroactive freaky-deaky picture warning.
A hacker going by the name of Barnaby Jack demonstrated his ability to hack pacemakers at a recent computer security conference in Australia, proving that fake boner pill emails may be the least of your grandpa’s technology concerns. Dammit, I told you I’d get them for you gramps, STAY OFF THE INTERNET.
[The hacker] demonstrated how he could hack into a pacemaker using a laptop, and download its model and serial numbers. Once he was in, he could reverse engineer the connections or even upload new firmware, giving him full access to the device. This allowed him to switch off the device, or even force it to apply an 850 volt shock to the heart.
While he didn’t divulge the manufacturer of the pacemaker used, Jack said that he wanted his demonstration to act as a warning to medical device makers to secure their devices. In many cases he says that it’s easy to gain full access to a device, without need for a password or authentication of any kind.
Terrifying. Or at least for people with pacemakers anyways. That’s why it’s so important to SECURE YOUR WI-FI CONNECTION. “You don’t even know what a pacemaker is, do you?” Zero clue. I know what a babymaker is though. “What’s a babymaker?” *pointing* PEENUS!
Thanks to dot and Brett, who are both firm believers in not hacking pacemakers because old people have it rough enough already. Right? They’re already on their way out, no need to kick them out the door.
It’s about time. The HTC DLX has most often been rumored carrying a Verizon-style 6435LVW or Droid Incredible X name, and yet it was unveiled first in Japan as the J Butterfly; we really needed the photos just now surfacing at Android Central to remind us that the 5-inch, 1080p gigantophone could still come to Big Red. While nothing’s confirmed yet, the black-with-red-trim design and all too prominent Verizon labeling make a convincing case for the DLX’s ultimate US destination. A helpfully provided phone profile screen might be more interesting to some, as it hints that we might get the same quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2GB of RAM and 8-megapixel rear camera as in the J Butterfly — Verizon won’t pull a Droid Incredible 4G LTE and tone down the hardware, if this is true. Without any more details, we’re still left wondering just how soon Verizon could commit to launching the smartphone. There’s no guarantees that Verizon will follow KDDI’s schedule and ship in early December.
Update: We’ve been wondering whether the odd name was meant to be short for Droid Incredible X, i.e. “DIX” instead of “DLX,” but our friend @evleaks on Twitter just showed us a list of device PIDs that mentions the latter. @evleaks also suggests that DLX might be short for the codename “Deluxe” for the international variant, just as “ENRC2″ was short for “Endeavor C2″ (One X+).
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Verizon
HTC Droid Incredible X possibly spotted with Verizon badging intact (Update: DLX could be ‘Deluxe’) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Oct 2012 01:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The differentiator for the Raspberry Pi mini computer is price. It’s not the most powerful single-board computer around but it’s not trying to be. The platform-makers’ big idea was to make a device that kids could learn to code on — meaning it needed to be powerful enough to do cool stuff like play BlueRay-quality video, but cheap enough that kids wouldn’t have to share it with the rest of the family. And at $ 35 for the current model B — and $ 25 for the forthcoming model A (which has less memory, fewer USB ports and no Ethernet) — it’s already got a disruptive price-tag.
But how low could the Raspberry Pi’s price-tag go in future? Eben Upton, founder of the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation and the man behind the Pi’s design, says that while he can’t envisage being able to make a $ 10 or $ 15 Pi, there might be room to shave a few more dollars off the cost. ”I think we’re very close to the minimum possible cost, once you’ve put a board, some connectors, a CPU and a bit of RAM down and allowed for a bit of margin,” he tells TechCrunch. “I could see getting to $ 20 one day for a very bare-bones product, but not soon, and no lower than that.”
The current $ 35 Pi costs “somewhere in the $ 20-$ 30 range” to manufacture, says Upton, indicating there’s very little wiggle room for squeezing what is already a tiny price-tag that little bit smaller. But even at $ 35/$ 25 per Pi the Foundation reckons it’s on course to ship one million units in the first year of sale — an order of magnitude greater than the one thousand Pis they had originally imagined being able to sell. It’s also starting to see interest from developing countries in using the Pi as an affordable general purpose computing device. Add to that, the Foundation this week upped the amount of memory in the model B Pi — to 512MB – without increasing its $ 35 price-tag. So you’re getting a whole lot more RAM with your Pi for the same amount of money.
The Foundation does not manufacture the Pi itself — it licenses the design to two companies Premier Farnell/Element 14 and RS Components. But Upton says it sets a recommended price in consultation with its partners — thereby keeping the price generally stable but allowing for “some small variation in non-US markets” where distribution costs may be higher.
Nokia's Windows Phone 8 handsets could be most expensive Currently Nokia is the manufacturer of choice when it comes to Windows Phone, thanks to its partnership with Microsoft, however that could be about to change as the software giant has selected the HTC Windows Phone 8X as its flagship device for the … Read more on TechRadar UK
Windows Phone 8X Pre-orders Start October 21 at Best Buy Best Buy will begin selling pre-orders for the Windows Phone 8X by HTC this weekend according to a WPCentral report. According to the report an image from Best Buy's flier for the week of October 21-27 reveals the pre-order date. The image shows a … Read more on Gotta Be Mobile
HTC Windows Phone 8X Release Date, T-Mobile: How Limited Storage Could … Samsung's Windows 8 phone, the ATIV S, comes with 16GB of storage, but it will come with a micro SD slot so users can add more memory at a later date. In a comparison test between the ATIV S, Lumia 920 and HTC Phone 8X, the ATIV topped HTC … Read more on Books & Review
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