By Gaurav Kheterpal

Even before the buzz around the release of Apple iPad could settle down, Google has set the alarm bells ringing for Apple by releasing the first images of its much anticipated concept – The Google Tablet. Much like the iPad, the Google Tablet will have a sleek and stylish design.

The device will offer innovative features like contextual actions triggered via dwell (What does that even mean? -Ed.), UI Zooming for multiple tabs and an ability to create multiple browsers on the screen. Google has collaborated with a number of leading hardware manufacturers to implement this concept and once it comes to life, it might well turn out to be the iPad killer. Or perhaps this secret Apple project will.

[ The Chromium Project ] VIA [ TechCrunch ]

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Before you get too excited about the bandwidth number, you should know that Sony’s latest wireless innovation works at a range of up to 14 millimeters. So no, it won’t be replacing your WiFi antenna anytime soon, but it might well be showing up in your next television set or other bit of Sony-branded gadgetry. Working in the 30GHz to 300GHz frequency range, this is designed to replace wired communication channels inside electronic devices, with Sony claiming it will deliver “advantages such as size and cost-reduction and enhanced reliability of the final product.” Basically, erecting 1mm antennae that can beam information at each other at a rate of 11Gbps turns out to be simpler and more reliable than printing ever wider data lanes into the circuit board. Makes sense to us. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Sony develops 11Gbps short-range wireless intra-connection

Sony develops 11Gbps short-range wireless intra-connection originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Chris Scott Barr

The ketchup packet is one of those things that has stayed exactly the same since before I was born. After all, it fulfills the duty that is required of it. It holds your condiment until such a time that you’re ready to add it to your food. Well at some point Heinz decided that they could do superior, and undertook the task of reinventing the ketchup packet. The end result was essentially a cross between the old packet, and the little plastic containers that you get BBQ sauce in at McDonald’s.

It does seem to make perfect sense. When you grab a burger and fries through the drive-thru, where do you put the ketchup that you’re going to dip your fries in? Maybe on a napkin, or even the wrapper for your burger. Either way, you’re increasing the danger of somehow getting it on your clothes. Now you can tear off the whole top and dip your fries in, or just tear off a part of it and squeeze the ketchup onto your sandwich.  So simple, yet so brilliant.

[ Heinz ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

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By Chris Scott Barr

Everyone that owns an iPhone is looking for a way to make their battery stretch a tiny bit longer. Sure, my 3GS lasts longer than the previous models, but after a long day of solid use I still find myself doing anything I can to conserve what tiny battery life it has left. There are a lot of solutions out there, but one can never have too many choices. Scosche has a new one that’ll recharge your iPhone twice over.

The solBAT II is a backup battery that can be charged either via USB or using solar power. It features both a suction mount for soaking up solar rays through a window and a carabineer mount if you want to attach it to a backpack. The battery has a 1500mA capacity and a 5V output, so it’ll charge your phone at the same rate as a standard wall outlet (or your PC).

If you’re constantly running low on battery life for your iPhone (or any other device that charges via USB) and you’re into the “green” scene, then this is worth checking out. It’s only going to set you back $29.99 and is on sale now.

[ Scosche ]

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Logitech Squeezebox Touch delayed, again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T certainly made a few of us happy yesterday when it announced that the iPhone SlingPlayer app would now be granted to run over its 3G network, but the carrier apparently embellished the facts a tiny when it stated Sling had optimized the app to be “more bandwidth sensitive” — Sling’s John Santoro told Ars Technica that it “didn’t change anything,” and that “AT&T never discussed specific stipulations with us.” So much for that happy narrative — we thought AT&T’s line sounded odd, given that SlingPlayer has always run just fine on AT&T Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and S60 devices. It’s cool, though, Sling isn’t sweating it: “Whatever the reason, we’re just glad AT&T has approved it.” Now it’s just up to Apple to let it through the App Store — any day now, guys.

Update: Sling just called us to clarify the above statements — while it didn’t make any specific changes to iPhone SlingPlayer, its engineers did work with AT&T to make sure the app didn’t interfere with other customers and clog up the network. Sling says that once AT&T was involved in the testing process and “saw how the app worked,” things went smoothly, and that the app was “refined” to meet AT&T network requirements — refinements we were told would come to other platforms over time. Sounds good to us, even though we’re still wondering why this wasn’t the party line in the first place.

Sling says it didn’t change iPhone SlingPlayer for AT&T (Updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t state we were overwhelmed by the first leaked photos of what we’ve come to know as the Nokia Mystic, but there’s something about this QWERTY candybar form factor that Nokia just does so well that we’ve to hang onto the benefit of the doubt. The latest news on this front is that the handset will be dubbed the Nokia C6, which makes a lot of sense as a counterpart to the numeric keypad-equipped but similarly styled Nokia C5 that was recently leaked. Word is that the C6 should retail for around 200 Euro (about $274 US), and that it should be released in May or June. It seems logical that we’ll see both of these S60 3rd edition phones at MWC this month, but there’s nothing solid on that front just yet.

Nokia’s mid-tier ‘Mystic’ to be dubbed C6, will hit stores in May or June? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Andrew Liszewski

Looking like a cross between a Sidekick, a PSP Go and a portable DVD player, the JXD V3 doesn’t seem like it’s made up its mind when it comes to what it’s good at, so I guess it’s just decided to be a jack of all trades… master of some? The 4.3 inch TFT LCD display has a resolution of 480

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By Andrew Liszewski

In past articles I’ve already made my frightening Nostradamus-like prediction that Hello Kitty will eventually take over the world. But that doesn’t mean the human race has to go quietly, and ironically this Hello Kitty themed chainsaw will be the perfect tool as we battle for our freedom from the forces of cute and pink.

[ Hello Kitty Hell - Hello Kitty Chainsaw ] VIA [ Albotas ]

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Bandwidth scarcity, is there any more pressing global issue that we’re faced with this day? We think not. Given the exponential growth in both computing power and software’s exploitation and expectation of greater resources, it’s no surprise that at some point we’ll have to look beyond easy electrical currents as the transporters of our data. One bold step taken in that direction has been the demonstration of an operational germanium-on-silicon laser by researchers at MIT. By tweaking the electron count in germanium atoms with the help of some added phosphorous, they’ve been able to coax them into a photon-emitting state of being — something nobody thought possible with indirect bandgap semiconductors. Perhaps the ideal part of this is that germanium can be integrated relatively easily into current manufacturing processes, meaning that light-based internal communication within our personal is now at least a tiny bit closer to becoming a reality.

Germanium lasers offer ray of hope for optical computing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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