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Nao robot gets a new charging station, Kinect / Wiimote controls

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:51:00 -0800

Robots that are able to find a charger and plug themselves in may not be that unique anymore, but most of those chargers tend to leave the robot with little to do while it replenishes its batteries.

Not so with this new charger developed by Aldebaran Robotics for its Nao robot, which basically consists of a retractable extension cord that leaves the robot free to continue interacting with its owner, or simply sit down and chill out as the case may be. What's more, while that comes from Aldebaran itself, we're also now starting to see some results out of the company's new developer program, and it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that one of the first standout projects involves Wiimote and Kinect controls. Head on past the break to see both it and the new charging station on video.

Cisco's Umi and TelePresence video calling systems: now with work at home and home at work!

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:46:00 -0800

It was only a matter of time before Cisco's Umi and TelePresence services got together for some HD video calling synergy, and the company has finally enabled "full interoperability" between the two.

Not only that, but the networking giant is also rolling out a free HD calling client called Umi Connect for PC and Mac (think SkypeHD) and a new Umi 720 system that works with slower broadband connections. The 720 will cost $399 upon its market arrival this summer, while the already available Umi 1080 gets a much-needed-yet-still-underwhelming hundred dollar price drop to $499. Service fees have also fallen from $275 to $99 a year and from $24.95 to $9.95 monthly for those who are commitment-averse. Maybe now you can persuade the bossman (or bosslady, as it were) to finally let you work from home -- though pants-free employment will undoubtedly remain off, or maybe just under, the table. PR's after the break.

AMD launches Radeon HD 6990 powerhouse for $699, maintains 'world's fastest' title

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:44:00 -0800

If you're scoring at home, NVIDIA currently holds the lead in single-GPU graphics cards with its GeForce GTX 580, but ATI's dual-chip Radeon HD 5970 has been holding down the absolute speed crown for a good long while.

Now, bearing the name of AMD Radeon HD 6990, its successor sidles up to the throne and demands attention as the fastest single expansion board you can plug into your shiny new motherboard. The 6990 boasts a massive 4GB of GDDR5, 3,072 Stream Processors, 64 ROPs, and an 830MHz core clock speed. A dual-BIOS switch will let you crank that clock up to 880MHz with a corresponding increase in voltage, but don't expect to see much overclocking headroom above that.

Reviewers note, alongside their fawning assessment of the world's best performance, that the HD 6990 is a massively power-hungry card (375W TDP) and one that makes quite a bit of noise while going through its herculean tasks. That's in spite of a new vapor chamber cooling system that allegedly supports up to 450W of thermal output. If all this strikes you as a somewhat flawed execution, maybe you'll join us in hoping NVIDIA's imminently upcoming response, dubbed the GTX 590, will be able to offer a neater, more efficient assault on the extreme peaks of graphical performance.

Warner Bros. starts renting movies via Facebook

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:40:00 -0800

If you were looking for something more worthwhile to spend Facebook credits on than virtual trinkets for some game, Warner has an idea: all those movies you said you "liked."

Starting today it is testing out a plan to rent movies right on their respective pages for 30 Facebook credits / $3 each. The first one on deck is The Dark Knight (again?) which should be live later today, with more available to rent or purchase in the future. there's no word on resolution or other features, but at the price we're assuming SD only. Full details are in the press release after the break, but the rentals have the standard 48-hour VOD window and can be paused/resumed simply by logging back into Facebook. In its current state, we doubt Netflix, Amazon and the rest have anything to worry about as far as competition, but maybe Warner thinks it can snag a few bucks from simply making sure there's a buy button of some kind awaiting our various identities in as many places as possible.

HP's Omni Pro 110 all-in-one aims to please the business set

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:37:00 -0800

HP's been cranking out all-in-one's for quite a while now, but the company's latest offering ,the Omni Pro 110 attempts to be a real hit with the business crowd.

Behind that 1600 x 900 20-inch anti-glare monitor comes your choice of Intel Pentium or Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4 gigs of RAM, an HDD ranging from 250GB to 1TB in capacity, and a built-in DVD burner with LightScribe functionality. It's also got a whopping six USB ports, six-in-one card reader, and built-in speakers present in that chin region at the bottom. HP's highlighting the Pro's ease of upgradability , and with a starting price of just $639, the sky's the limit.

Boeing's new X-37B launches into orbit

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:32:00 -0800

Model X-37B might look familiar to you -- it was the name of an autonomous space vehicle that took flight just about a year ago, orbited for a whopping eight months, and then successfully returned to our planet all by itself. Now a new version of the X-37B has blasted off to hang outside of the atmosphere for a while.

The spacecraft left Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41 down in Florida and hurtled to a low-Earth orbit with help of a Atlas V rocket. Boeing isn't saying exactly what it's doing up there, but we suspect this spaceship knows which way to go.

RIM Loses Marketing Chief

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 11:06:00 -0800

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. said Friday its chief marketing officer has decided to leave the company—just weeks ahead of one of its most significant product rollouts in years. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, said Keith Pardy is leaving for "personal reasons," but is continuing to help the company over a six-month transition period. Mr. Pardy wasn't available to comment.

RIM didn't say whether the company had hired a successor. Mr. Pardy told the company a month ago about his plans to depart, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The departure of Mr. Pardy, who was hired from Nokia Corp. in early 2009, deprives the smartphone maker of a marketing chief during the crucial lead-up to the launch of its PlayBook tablet, expected at the end of March or early April.

It reflects larger turmoil in RIM, as the company struggles to remake itself from a maker of corporate-workhorse devices known for security and reliability to a producer of hip, media-savvy gadgets that can compete with the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads, say people familiar with RIM's strategy.

The PlayBook will feature a new, faster operating system and revamped look-and-feel. RIM executives say it will be the best look yet at how the company is reinventing its products.

But mobile-market watchers say the PlayBook has suffered ever since it was announced last year from confusion over who it's supposed to appeal to and what market it will satisfy. RIM has consistently stressed the PlayBook's usefulness to businesses and its potential popularity among corporate technology officers—even as it shows off the tablet's ability to play videogames and watch movies in demonstrations.

Mr. Pardy had been a marketing executive at Nokia and Coca-Cola Co.; RIM executives had hoped Mr. Pardy would be able to help the company shed its staid corporate image and help it boost popularity in the battle against branding wizards like Apple.

RIM's BlackBerry phones are still selling strongly overseas. But they've been fast losing share to Apple's iPhones and devices that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system in the trend-setting North American market.

Like Nokia, the Finnish phone giant, RIM was late to recognize the importance of touch-screens, cool interfaces and the need to offer third-party applications. It has also fallen short in getting a marketing message out that resonates with consumers, analysts said.

"RIM's challenge is product, and another is perception," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, a market research firm.

Jack Gold, principal at J. Gold Associates, a technology consulting firm, said RIM has never been a strong marketing company in part because it never had to be. "They've been hit by a competitive pressure that they didn't feel three or four years ago," he said.

Breakthrough to keep pesky SMSes at bay

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 11:03:00 -0800

Tired of junk marketing messages flooding your cell phone inbox? SMS Assassin, a software developed by Indian Institute of Information Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi), can now put an end to your woes by helping you segregate spam from regular messages. Being a cheap option to reach the masses, marketing firms are widely using Short Message Service (SMS) to offer value added services and advertisement. These unwanted messages disturb mobile users and at times come with infected attachments. Countermeasures offered by the government have failed to stop these.

According to available data, in India an estimate 100 million spam messages are sent everyday. Companies dedicated for SMS-based advertising have been launched and they can reach out to about 1,00,000 people for less than Rs3,500. “This is what inspired us to come up with SMSAssassin,” Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, assistant professor at IIT-Delhi, said. “SMSAssasin performs the spam filtering automatically. It is designed to run on mid-range phones wherein it filters spam messages and also gives the user freedom to receive spam SMSes which are useful to him or her,” he said.

Kumaraguru said a study conducted by his team in IIIT-Delhi found that an SMS is a spam or not, differed from person to person. “Females mostly tagged message related to festivals offers, beauty products, discount offers on food/goods etc; males mostly tagged messages related to sports, businesses, job, studies, social gathering and recharge schemes related messages. We also observed that most of food discount offers were tagged by males and females both,” he said.

Kayak to provide travel and flight search results within Microsoft's Bing

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 11:00:00 -0800

Bing Travel just so happened to be the one major aspect of Bing that kept us coming back, and now it's about to get even more irresistible. The famed Kayak flight search engine will soon be powering Microsoft's Bing Travel, with the two locking down a partnership that'll bring better results to consumers while enabling Bing admins to focus their attention on more pressing matters. According to Kayak, Bing will have access to "all" of Kayak's travel search services globally, and it looks as if the integration will be complete "in the coming weeks." Call it a hunch, but something tells us the folks are Redmond are just stacking up ammunition to face a new wave of inevitable competition -- if that Google / ITA deal ever clears regulatory hurdles, it'll be On Like Donkey Kong.

Google Docs Now supporting mobile editing in 45 languages

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 10:59:00 -0800

Never mind the fact that you'll need to have a basic grasp of English to even understand this report -- if you're an avid user of Google Docs on your Android 2.2+ phone, you can now edit in 45 languages. Heck, even if you're not using Android, you can surf on over to docs.google.com with any iOS 3.0+ device and accomplish the same thing. Would it make it any clearer if we spoke slowly and removed all adjectives?

Internet access blocked across much of Libya

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 10:56:00 -0800

It's sort of becoming the "thing to do" when people are revolting: find a way to cut people's access to the internet. This happened across most of Libya yesterday, according to various traffic monitors. Traffic from the country to sites like YouTube and Google nearly disappeared, even though it seems that technically, the servers are still up and running. Unlike the previous actions of the Egyptian government, which took down entire servers, it appears that in this case, some wicked throttling is occurring. While it's not completely clear who is choking the bandwidth, the assumption that it's the Libyan government is probably not an insane one. Hit up the source links for more.

Seagate Ships 3TB 7,200 RPM Barracuda XT Internal HD

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 10:54:00 -0800

We've been hearing about Seagate's plans to offer an unencumbered 3TB hard drive since May of last year, but despite promises of a 2010 launch and the release of similarly large HDDs from companies like Western Digital and Hitachi, we're only now seeing the 3TB Barracuda XT shipping all on its own. We won't claim to have an explanation for the delay, but it's possible that the company's proprietary software -- which breaks the 2.1TB legacy OS barrier and enables this guy to function within Windows XP -- could have something to do with it. It might be tardy to the party, but the new Barracuda can definitely hold its own when stacked against the competition -- it spins at 7,200RPM, touts a 64MB cache, and plays nice with the 6Gbps SATA interface. It ain't the only 3TB fish in the sea, but at $280, it's definitely not dead in the water.

Electric car sales watch: 281 Volts and 67 Leafs sold in US during February

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 10:50:00 -0800

Neither Chevrolet nor Nissan have felt proud enough of their EV sales numbers to list them on their latest press releases, but our colleagues over at Autoblog Green have dug those numbers up anyhow. They make for dispiriting reading if you're an electric car well-wisher, as the Volt's sales declined from January's tally of 321 to an even less impressive 281, while the Leaf closed February with only 67 US sales, down 20 on last month. Upon seeing their previous numbers, we postulated that both cars are suffering from constrained supply, which is likely still the case, but it feels ironic to us that electric vehicles, whose driving experience offers instant torque, are taking their sweet time to rev up their sales.

Google flips Android kill switch, destroys a batch of malicious apps

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 10:47:00 -0800

When 21 rogue apps started siphoning off identifying information from Android phones and installing security holes, Google yanked the lot from Android Market, and called the authorities to boot. But what of the 50,000 copies already downloaded by unwitting users? That's what Google's dealing with this week, by utilizing Android's remote kill switch to delete them over the air. But that's not all, because this time the company isn't just removing offending packages, but also installing new code. The "Android Market Security Tool March 2011" will be remotely added to affected handsets to undo the exploit and keep it from sending your data out, as well as make you wonder just how much remote control Google has over our phones. Yes, we welcome our new Search Engine overlords and all that, so long as they've got our best interests at heart, but there's a certain irony in Google removing a backdoor exploit by using a backdoor exploit of its own - even one that (in this case) will email you to report what it's done.

The Apple iPad 2 (starting price set $499)

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Sat, 5 Mar 2011 09:51:00 -0800

Finally, Steve Jobs has announced that starting March 11, 2011 – the brand new Apple iPad 2 will be available in US stores, so if you are a fan of Apple or you already own an iPad and would like an upgrade than you should consider on getting to know its new features first:

Improved design

Apple succeeded to cut down on the new iPad thickness – the new version being 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter. It is supposed to feel really comfortable holding it and it being lighter you will practically not feel it in your hands. We all know that Apple is able to impress with looks – so the new iPad is one gadget that impresses with its thin, sleek and shiny appearance. Because of its new design, it has been compared to iPod touch (a bit bigger of course), meaning it is much easier and more comfortable to hold than its predecessor. Despite its changes in the design, Apple has succeeded to keep its 10 hours of battery life – which is pretty cool. Besides its minimalistic design, it comes both in black and white color.

Powerful and more useful

The new iPad carries the powerful 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 SOC that makes everything flow pretty fast on it. You can watch HD videos and movies and play games that look smoother and more realistic – all of this by enjoying higher resolution. There will definitely be lots of video apps in the future, so that the new iPad is perfectly compatible with it.The pretty useful and expected part of iPad 2 is its two incorporated cameras. This will help you keep in touch with your folks without needing a desktop computer or even a laptop that is much bigger and heavier. It comes with a front-facing VGA camera for Photo Booth (a new feature) and Face Time. The 3.2 megapixel camera in the back of the iPad captures 720 HD video.

Another useful feature is the HDMI Video Mirroring that will help users mirror their iPad screen right on an HDTV using an optional adaptor. There are also different other accessories available with the release of iPad 2 that you can check out on their official website.

Updated iOS

Although expected, the new iPad boasts the new iOS 4.3 that comes with new improved features. Your browsing experience in Safari will be much faster so that you could find all you need in no time, enhancements to Air Play have been added, and there is also a choice to use the side switch on iPad 2 that will either lock the screen rotation or mute audio.

Smart Cover – a pleasant unexpected surprise

The new iPad cover was pretty unexpected but a really nice surprise. The cover comes in two types of material – polyurethane and leather and a rainbow of colors to choose from. Both materials have a special microfiber that cleans the screen automatically when you cover it, so you can say goodbye to nasty fingerprints on your screen. The cover can be attached due to its special included magnets and it is really light so it doesn’t add any weigh to your iPad.

Once you pull it off from the iPad, it will automatically resume sleeping, without you having to push any additional buttons. Another feature of the Smart Cover is the fact that when you fold it you can use it as a stand for your iPad. This way it will be easier for you to watch videos or talk to your family and friends, as you won’t have to hold your iPad for that. The stand is also really comfortable when you use your iPad for typing or browsing the Internet. It is really up to you if you want to change your iPad or wait for the new version that might probably have more features. Yes the new Ipad 2 is more powerful, has a nicer design and you can definitely take advantage of the video call option, but the old iPad isn’t that bad either and their price dropped 100 dollars with the launch of the new Ipad 2. However, if you are new to Apple and decide on buying a tablet PC from them, than iPad 2 is probably a good option and it will probably satisfy your needs.

iDisplay now ready to turn your Android device into a secondary display

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 03:37:00 -0800

While iPhone and iPad users have been able to use iDisplay to turn their device into a secondary display for some time now (with at least some degree of success), Android users have unfortunately been left to their own devices -- until now, that is. The folks behind the app have finally made an Android version available as well, which is apparently compatible with all Android smartphones and tablets running Android 2.1 or later, and works in both portrait and landscape modes. As with the iOS version, it's also compatible with both Windows and OS X, and it'll set you back the same $4.99.

Samsung's 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab likely to launch at CTIA

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 03:29:00 -0800

Torn between the 7-inch and 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab? Well, it looks like Samsung is about to solve that problem for you come March 22nd. According to an invite making the rounds, the Samsung Mobile team is planning to hold a Mobile Unpacked event at CTIA in Orlando, and as the graphic suggests, the focus will be a new sized Tab. We're assuming it will be an 8.9-inch version, since the invite shows an 8 and 9 flanked by a 7 and 10. That sure lines up with what we've heard before, but we have to admit, it does seems like a lot of tablet offerings for one company. For some odd reason, we haven't received this invitation yet, but we're assuming we're invited (obviously, it's not a party without Infobotic!) and thus will be there covering all the action live. Stay tuned.....

Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread leaks for Samsung Galaxy

marwah1991@gmail.com (Shrey Marwah) — Tue, 1 Mar 2011 03:22:00 -0800

Not every Galaxy S user around the globe even has Froyo yet but Samsung's ready to move on, it seems, crafting a ROM based on Android 2.3.2 (in other words, quite recently) for the i9000 model that just leaked across the giant faucet better known as the internet. The darned thing is nearly a quarter gigabyte in size, so Samsung's not playing here, but users haven't fleshed out everything that's changed just yet. Of course, if you're using one of the millions of Galaxy S devices that aren't an i9000, you've got more waiting to do... but we're certain hackers are already well underway tearing this bad boy apart and crafting custom ROMs for various SKUs. Hang tight!