Having made their first appearance in 2004 on an Audi A8 W12, white LED daytime running lights are now available for every model in various configurations. T… Video Rating: 4 / 5
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I’ve long believed that touchscreens leave a certain something to be desired when it comes to playing games, and if a new (and very curious) report holds true, Apple may feel the same way. According to PocketGamer.biz’s Jon Jordan, Apple has been meeting with developers on-site at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to talk about a forthcoming Apple game controller.
Jordan’s multiple developer sources claim that the Cupertino company has booked a meeting room under an assumed name to talk about the game-centric device, though they weren’t able to shed any light on what the thing will look like or when it will actually see the light of day. That said, Apple is expected to hold an iPad-centric event in April so it’s possible that this controller may be officially unveiled in just a few weeks.
At first glance, the prospect of Apple churning out a game controller of all things seems downright silly, but after chewing on it for a while the notion doesn’t seem quite as outlandish. You’d be hard-pressed to think of OS X as prominent a platform for gaming as Windows is (though some big-league developers are working to change that), but iOS plays home to a staggering number of games and it’s not inconceivable to think that Apple would want to enhance the sorts of gaming experiences available to iPhone, iPod and iPad users. As such, a game controller seems like the sort of thing that Apple would agonize over getting right, and it appears that Apple may have been doing just that.
In the site’s 2012 review of the 3rd generation iPad, AnandTech’s Anand Lal Shimpi and Vivek Gowri let slip a tantalizing tidbit when discussing the iPad’s faculty as a gaming machine: ”I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen,” the review reads.
What’s more Apple has been seen bulking itself up with patents that relate to a potential gaming push for at least a few years now. This patent from 2008 describes an accessory that wraps around a portable electronic device with touchscreen (sound familiar?) and includes a standard D-Pad and button, while this one spotted in 2012 takes a slightly different approach. Either way, these patents plus the AnandTech comments make it rather clear that Apple has been mulling over a physical game controller (or something like it) and it may be time for those ambitions to come to fruition.
I’ve reached out to Apple for comment, and will update if/when they respond.
(Also, here’s hoping it looks nothing like the Pippin controller pictured above.)
You’ve heard that Microsoft has a new operating system—Windows 8. You probably also heard about Apple’s latest operating system—OS X Mountain Lion. But have you heard about the new version of Google’s Chrome operating system?
If it doesn’t sound familiar, you aren’t alone. Though Google has made a lot of noise about its Android mobile operating system, it has been relatively quiet about this operating system for computers. Chrome OS, which Google introduced in 2009, relies on the cloud, or remote servers. This means it automatically syncs content with other devices and gets system updates just by turning on.
[ See post to watch video ]
This week, I tested Google’s newest Samsung Chromebook, a laptop designed to run Chrome OS. This is Google’s fourth Chromebook to date and it’s the most portable design yet. It weighs just 2.4 pounds, measures only seven-tenths of an inch thick and is priced at $ 249. That’s $ 80 less than Apple’s iPad Mini and the same price as Amazon’s 32-gigabyte Kindle Fire HD. The Chromebook now comes with 100 gigabytes of storage on Google Drive for two years and will be available this week in some 500 Best Buy stores, as well as via Amazon.com and the Google Play Store.
How will people use this Chromebook? They’ll use it for a lot of the same things they do with a tablet or smartphone: composing and reading emails; browsing the Web and social networks; and running Web apps. And its full laptop keyboard and track pad make it a productive device.
People who use a lot of Google tools, like me, will feel right at home in the Chrome OS. After logging in with my Google account, I found all of my Chrome browser Web apps, Google Calendar content, Gmail messages, Google contacts and Google Drive documents waiting for me on this computer.
This device will attract users who want to save money and get rid of their heavy, slow PCs. While it won’t run Microsoft Office programs like Word or Excel, viewing and editing with Google Docs will likely work enough for people not to mind. And the cloud is a lot more familiar to people now than it was a year ago.
Google sees this Chromebook as a second or third device, like a laptop that could sit on the kitchen countertop or coffee table for all family members to use. I tested that theory in my home, asking visiting relatives to set up new user accounts on the laptop by logging into their Google accounts. They selected a photo to represent their accounts and found their Gmail, Google Drive and other saved documents on the laptop.
But Chrome OS has more limited functionality because it depends on a Wi-Fi connection. That would understandably make some people nervous. This Chromebook has only 16-gigabytes of local storage on a solid-state drive, but smartly caches files to this storage so they’re available even when the computer is offline. For example, the Offline Gmail app caches all of your emails back to every message you received a week ago; Google Drive caches the 100 most recently used Google Docs for editing and accessing offline; and Amazon’s Kindle Cloud Reader app makes books available for reading offline.
This $ 249 Chromebook comes with 12 Gogo in-flight passes for free Wi-Fi access on equipped planes. And if the thought of not being connected is too nerve-racking, a 3G version of this Chromebook will be available sometime in the next two to three weeks for $ 330, a spokeswoman says.
This Chromebook runs on an ARM processor, like tablets and smartphones, and has no noisy fan like some laptops. It resumed from sleep almost instantly and booted up in less than 10 seconds, in line with Google’s estimate. It includes a built-in webcam, two USB ports, an SD card slot and an HDMI port for sharing content with TVs.
The keyboard can feel a little cramped if you’re doing a lot of typing and the decision to replace the Caps Lock key with a Search button will leave lots of users baffled. To use Caps Lock, hold the Search and Shift keys simultaneously, or change the function of the Search key to Caps Lock in Settings, Device, Keyboard Settings.
Google estimates its battery could last 6½ hours on one charge. In my harsh battery test, where I turned off all power-saving features, set screen brightness to 100%, left Wi-Fi on to collect email in the background and played a continuous loop of local music, I got just over five hours, which might be up to six hours under regular circumstances.
Since the last Chromebook in May, Google’s Chrome OS has received some subtle but important changes. Apps are now shown in a pop-up window called the Apps List. Past iterations of Chrome OS had these apps appearing in a full-screen view. I’d prefer these apps appear as they do in Google’s Chrome browser—letting me see them as I open a new browser tab. Another change is that each user’s start screen shows his or her wallpaper, so the user knows exactly what account he or she is using. And a new notifications center in the bottom right of the Chromebook screen lets people keep notifications minimized until they decide to deal with them.
If you’re looking for an additional computer and you don’t want to break the bank, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you can do with this cloud-based operating system running on a $ 249 Chromebook.
Email katie.boehret@wsj.com
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Yes, we’ll admit that we borrowed that pun in the title. MooresCloud founder Mark Pesce’s Xzibit reference is still a very apt description of the Light, his company’s Linux-based LED lamp. The Australian team’s box-shaped illumination runs the open OS (including a LAMP web server stack) on an integrated mini PC with an accelerometer and WiFi. The relative power and networking provide obvious advantages for home automation that we’ve seen elsewhere, but it’s the sheer flexibility of a generalized, web-oriented platform that makes the difference: the Light can change colors based on photos or movement, sync light pulses to music and exploit a myriad of other tricks that should result from a future, web-based app store. When and how the Light launches will depend on a Kickstarter campaign to raise $ 700,000 AUD ($ 717,621 US) starting on October 16th, although the $ 99 AUD ($ 101 US) cost is just low enough that we could see ourselves open-sourcing a little more of the living room. At least, as long as we don’t have to recompile our lamp kernel before some evening reading.
Continue reading MooresCloud Light runs Linux, puts LAMP on your lamp (video)
Filed under: Household
MooresCloud Light runs Linux, puts LAMP on your lamp (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 10:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s rare to see the creation of a product from idea to implementation but Blink Steady, a unique, multi-sensor bike light, allowed us to do just that. Created by Benjamin Cohen, Stuart Heys, and Mark Sibenac, the Blink Steady launched in April on Kickstarter and shipped last month.
The Blink Steady factory is in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, in a huge repurposed knitting factory that is home to a few dozen apparel manufacturers. The workshop is full of tools, stamps, cutters, and parts that Heys uses to build robots for his other clients. He and Ben got together to create their first commercial product and were pleasantly surprised by the reaction.
The light itself is dead simple: you mount it on your bike and it starts blinking when it’s dark and you’re in motion. It stops when you stop for a length of time. To change the notification style from blinking lights to a steady red beam you simply flip the light over to display the appropriate part of the laser etched logo – “Blink” to blink, “Steady” to stay on.
Heys and Cohen took us through the workshop and showed us how they made each piece by hand using locally sourced materials and labor. They truly made something from nothing and we’re proud that they were able to take part in TC Makers.
Note: Special thanks goes out to Josh Zelman, our stalwart producer and cameraman, for whom this is the last episode he’ll record as he’s leaving us on Friday. Let us know if you need a crack video guy because he won’t be on the market for long. You can find him on LinkedIn.
When Vizio entered the Windows PC market earlier this year, company CTO Matt McRae told us that the manufacturer “didn’t skimp on a single thing” on its very first line of PCs. The laptops stand out because they’re free from ugly stickers, bloatware, and clunky design, and Vizio wanted to package it all with an affordable price to revolutionize the PC industry. Our own Sean Hollister reviewed Vizio’s 15.6-inch Thin + Light and he certainly found an affordable, attractive laptop, but his experience was marred by the computer’s three-hour battery life, laggy touchpad, and unresponsive keyboard.
This time, we’ll take a look at the smaller 14-inch Thin + Light, with a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor and 128GB of solid state storage….
From prose to prototype, this week’s episode of On The Verge kept to a (fairly loose) theme about science fiction. First Josh, Nilay, and Paul took a look at one possible dystopic future as predicted by both Apple Store lines and iOS 6 Maps (it’s all in good fun, we promise). HTC also graciously let the trio play around with a quartet of its new Windows Phone 8X flagship devices. Next up, Bryan Bishop took a trip out to legendary special effects house Industrial Light & Magic to learn, among other things, how The Hulk came to life on screen for The Avengers.
Then science fiction became science fact when Microsoft principal researcher Andy Wilson joined Josh on stage to show off some of the crazy projects he’s been working on in the lab,…
While it’s not the DL-44 heavy blaster we’ve been holding out for, this Nintendo Zapper is almost as cool. Using the classic Duck Hunt light gun from the original NES, the team at North Street Labs created their own laser pistol. Using a 445nm diode, some batteries, wiring and imagination, the light gun was painstakingly put together, complete with physical safety lock and custom aim-assisting heat sink. The end result is a bona fide laser shootin’ gun, capable of not only setting alight matches from a distance, but setting the curtains on fire too (probably). See it in action in the video after the break, where it also tops out their laser meter, rating it — at least — at an eyeball popping 2W. Then tap up the source to see how — for educational purposes — you could make your own.
Continue reading NES light gun gets a laser upgrade, fulfils countless childhood dreams (video)
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
NES light gun gets a laser upgrade, fulfils countless childhood dreams (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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LIFX are dimmable, programmable, any-color-you-want, energy saving LED light bulbs that you can control from your smart phone. Want all the lights in your kitchen to pulsate to the music you’re playing? THEY CAN DO THAT TOO. The future, ladies and gentlemen — it’s not super exciting, but it’s still cooler that now. The bulbs are rated at 40,000 hours, and can last up to 25 years with average use (~5-hours a day). The project is currently an already-funded Kickstarter campaign (with the $ 100,000 goal exceeded by $ 750,000 in three days), so head on over there if you want to pre-order. $ 69 gets you one, $ 119 two, $ 196 four, $ 294 six, $ 392 eight and $ 490 for 10. Definitely NOT the kind of bulbs you want to leave in the sockets when you move.
Hit the jump for the Kickstarter demo video.
Question by : OLED (organic light emiting diode) question? I am looking to create a OLED panel like the one in this video link.
does anyone know appropriate chemicals or technique to make one myself? or is this like IMPOSSIBLE with out a professional lab and a gazillion dollars? thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by JohnB.No, this will cost you two gazillion dollars. The link below shows all the parts of the device.
Give your answer to this question below!
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