If you work for Motorola, cover your ears and say “Blur Blur Blur Blur” at the top of your lungs over and over again for the duration of this post, because what we’re about to present is an unholy marriage the likes of which neither Sanjay Jha nor Peter Chou ever intended. It’s not the first time we’ve heard of a version of Sense finding its way onto Motorola hardware, but developer “thegeektern” over on AllDroid has posted a bunch of video and stills claiming to have ported an HTC Desire’s (née Bravo’s) Sense-enabled firmware to Moto’s beast — and what’s more, he’s got some footage of it running Flash. Bear in mind that the speed at which Flash is running here looks downright painful — and we fully expect official Flash support on the Droid later this year anyhow — but anyone conflicted between the Droid’s muscular lines and HTC’s lovely skin might want to keep an eye on this project. It’s still very early in development, but the most important part of the port has already been finished: it shows the proper Droid logo on startup. Follow the break for video.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading HTC Desire’s Sense UI ported to Droid; HTC, Motorola cringe
HTC Desire’s Sense UI ported to Droid; HTC, Motorola cringe originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By Chris Ziegler
admin General
Viliv’s S5 MID, the little machine that packs the Vaio P’s Z520 processor in a legitimately pocketable form-factor, just got a breath of fresh air. It’s an HID (human interface device) driver for Windows 7, boosting the machine’s touchscreen abilities and enabling the breadth of Windows 7’s tablet functionality. According to Uber Tablet this greatly enhances usability by, amongst other things, presenting the Windows tablet keyboard rather than relying on the accessibility version and enabling better calibration. The driver being used here is legitimate according to reports we’ve read, but it is not signed and doesn’t appear to be an official release from Viliv, so you may want to exercise a bit of caution before you install — but don’t wait too long. This sounds like a pretty tasty update.
Viliv S5 MID gets accuracy-boosting HID driver for Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pocketables Forum | Uber Tablet | Email this | Comments
By Tim Stevens
admin General
We’ve had only tantalizingly brief (or is it briefly tantalizing?) chances to see LG’s glorious OLED television, but each and every time it’s left us with the feeling that our lives are poorer for not having one in our homes. Sure, that says as much about our tech addiction as it does about the 3mm-thick displays, but at least the deep-pocketed among us won’t have to wait too much longer to sate the need for 10,000,000:1 contrast ratios and 0.001ms response times. LG has announced it’ll be bringing it’s 15-inch OLED panel to Europe this May (to be swiftly followed by summer availability in the US) with a hefty MSRP sticker of €1,999 ($2,725) for the Austrian market. Nobody ever said the cutting edge was gonna be a cheap place to live.
LG’s 15-inch 15EL9500 OLED TV sets sail for Europe, scheduled to arrive this May originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink OLED-Display | LG Austria | Email this | Comments
By Vladislav Savov
admin General
What’s better than one hands-on report to whet your appetite ahead of the release of a new gadget? Why, two of them, of course, and it’s the convertible ASUS T101MT getting the stereo impressions. The machine has netbook specs (1.6GHz Atom N450 CPU, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, etc. etc.) combined with a 10.1-inch multitouch screen, which both of the sites giving early impressions rated poorly. Responsiveness is said to be less than stellar, and while one of these previewers was able to improve it with some extra calibration, precision near the top of the screen still sounds bad. Build quality looks good (for an Eee) and the form factor certainly looks nice, but we’re losing a little faith in this entrant after watching the video below. Check it out for yourself and see what you think, but don’t write it off just yet: these are still pre-production models and a little firmware magic could whip this tablet into shape before its release — whenever that will be.
Continue reading ASUS Eee PC T101MT convertible gets handled twice (video)
ASUS Eee PC T101MT convertible gets handled twice (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Touchscreen Tablet, netbooklive.net | Email this | Comments
By Tim Stevens
admin General
Well, it didn’t exactly seem like these were nearing an imminent release when they were
introduced earlier this month, but Corsair has now pulled a pleasant surprise and announced that its new Nova and Reactor SSD drives are available
right now. As expected, the Reactor series comes in 60GB and 120GB varieties and uses the Micron JMF612 controller with 128MB of DDR2 memory, while the Nova boasts 64GB or 128GB capacities and uses an Indilinx Barefoot controller with 64MB of cache memory. Speeds are not drastically different between the two, but the Nova does have a slight edge, with the 128GB model coming out on top at 270MB/second read and 190MB/second write. Prices range from $185 for the 60GB Reactor to $375 for the 128GB Nova.
Corsair Nova, Reactor SSDs now available originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink HotHardware | Corsair | Email this | Comments
By Donald Melanson
admin General
Fujitsu’s LifeBook UH900 started shipping to Americans just over a fortnight ago, and now one has landed into the capable hands of Pocketables. Boasting a 2GHz Atom CPU and some of the most unsightly adapters we’ve ever seen, this flip-open handheld — which just looks too lovely to be saddled with the “UMPC” moniker — strangely stirs something within our heart. It’s one of those “I know I don’t need it, but I just have to have it” things. Don’t agree? Hit the source link, scroll all the way down, think about the upcoming weekend, and then see how you feel. Oh, and feel free to check out those size comparisons if you need extra encouragement in the “ooh” and “aah” department.
Fujitsu’s LifeBook UH900 gets unboxed, sized up against the competition originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Pocketables (unboxing), (size comparisons) | Email this | Comments
By Darren Murph
admin General
What’s cute, cuddly, and makes all sorts of bizarro noises when it senses wireless waves? Yoshi Akai’s Wireless Catcher, of course! This analog synth contraption is simplistic in nature and complex in design, utilizing an onboard antenna to sense WiFi signals and then alter the sounds being outputted depending on signal strength and direction. It’s not exactly the symphony that Bach forgot to write, but it’s certainly beautiful in its own nerdy way. Have a look at the video past the break, won’t you?
Continue reading Yoshi Akai’s Wireless Catcher senses nearby wireless waves, makes music (video)
Yoshi Akai’s Wireless Catcher senses nearby wireless waves, makes music (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Engadget German, MAKE | Yoshi AKAI | Email this | Comments
By Darren Murph
admin General
According to a little late night tweet from Palm — and the update screen on our device — the stacked new webOS 1.4 update is making its way out into the world for the company’s Verizon-flavored devices. That’s right, Plussers — video recording (and editing) is just a small download away. So why are you still reading this?
Palm webOS 1.4 update hits Verizon’s Pre Plus and Pixi Plus originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Palm Twitter | Email this | Comments
By Joshua Topolsky
admin General
Solar cells are cute and all, but let’s be real — these things are far too inefficient for mainstream use. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology are working hard to remedy that very issue, and they’ve recently concocted a “new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons.” The solution relies on arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded onto a polymer substrate, which uses just a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells. According to professor Harry Atwater, these cells have “surpassed the conventional light-trapping limit for absorbing materials” for the first time, and we’re told that the arrays can convert between 90 and 100 percent of the photons they absorb into electrons, and yes, that does mean that they have a near-perfect internal quantum efficiency. Hit the source link for all the technobabble, and cross your fingers for this stuff to get the honored approval of the Governator.
Caltech gurus whip up highly efficient, low cost flexible solar cell originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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By Darren Murph
admin General
Apple’s famous desire for total control over its operations seems to have extended to its manufacturing facilities as we’ve come across Cupertino’s Supplier Responsibility 2010 Progress Report, which details audits the American company has done of its overseas suppliers and the failures identified therein. The findings are pretty damning on the whole, with more than half (54 percent) of all factories failing to meet Apple’s already inflated maximum 60-hour work week, 24 percent paying less than the minimum wage, 37 percent failing to respect anti-discrimination rules, and three facilities holding records of employing a total of eleven 15-year olds (who were over the legal age of 16 or had left by the time of the audit). Apple is, predictably, not jazzed about the situation, and has taken action through train-the-trainer schemes, threats of business termination with recidivist plants, and — most notably — the recovery of $2.2 million in recruitment fees that international contract workers should not have had to pay.
It should come as no shock to learn that cheaper overseas factories are cutting illegal corners, but it’s disappointing to hear Apple’s note that most of the 102 audited manufacturers said Cupertino was the only vendor to perform such rigorous compliance checks. Still, we’ll take what we can get and the very existence of this report — which can be savagely skewed to defame Apple’s efforts (as demonstrated expertly by The Daily Telegraph below) — is an encouraging sign that corporate responsibility is being taken seriously. We hope, wherever your geek loyalties and fervor may lie, that you’ll agree Apple’s leading in the right direction and that its competitors should at the very least have matching monitoring schemes. They may have to swallow some bad PR at first, but sweeping up the dirty details of where gadgets come from is juvenile and has no place in a civilized world. Hit the source link for the full report.
Apple supplier audit reveals sub-minimum wage pay and records of underage labor originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink The Daily Telegraph | Apple (PDF) | Email this | Comments
By Vladislav Savov
admin General
