加载中...

Qualcomm’s Mirasol Display Hopes to Create E-Reader Tablet Hybrids

Black-and-white e-readers are limiting while full color LCD displays such as those in tablets like the iPad can be power hungry and tough on the eyes. That’s why Qualcomm is betting that a new hybrid device that bridge the two worlds could be in the hands of consumers early next year.

Qualcomm is on track to ship 5.7-inch displays in the next few weeks that can shift between black-and-white and color, Jim Cathey, vice-president of business development for Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, told Wired.com.

These displays called ‘Mirasol’ will first go to device makers who are likely to introduce new products based on it early next year, says Cathey.

Last year, e-readers were one of the fastest growing consumer electronics products. But intense competition and pressure from Apple iPad has put many smaller e-reader makers out of business. Meanwhile, many consumers remain undecided when it comes to choosing between e-readers and tablets. Consumers want the convenience of a low power, display that’s lightweight and easy on the eye, with the advantage of a color screen.

With Mirasol, Qualcomm is hoping it can give companies such as Amazon that are reportedly looking beyond black-and-white e-readers an attractive option.

Mirasol displays work by modulating an optical cavity to reflect the desired wavelength of light. The reflected wavelength is proportional to the cavity’s depth. Mirasol screens looks more like glossy scientific books rather a full color LCD screen. But the displays consume very little power, are bistable and can play video.

Over the next few months, Qualcomm hopes to ramp up production of the displays. Qualcomm is building a new $2 billion Mirasol production plant in Taiwan, according to a report in DigiTimes.

A “major client has already started the design-in process,” using Mirasol, says DigiTimes.

See Also:

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Tags: , , , , , ,
Back to top

Apple May Be Internally Testing Next-Gen iPod Touch, iPad


Apple appears to be internally testing the next-gen iPod Touch and iPad, along with an unknown mystery device, according to configuration files buried deep inside the latest iOS beta.

Apple blog AppleInsider received purported configuration files of the next iOS beta, iOS 4.1., due to ship in “the coming weeks,” showing strings of code referencing “iPod 4,1″ — an identifier that denotes a fourth-generation device. (A revision of the current third-gen iPod model would be labeled “iPod 3,2.”)

The configuration files also reveal an identifier for “iProd 2,1″ — most likely the second-generation iPad, since the records showed the current iPad was registered as “iPod 1,1.” Most interesting is an identifier for “unknownHardware.” Perhaps this could be the rumored Apple TV upgrade based on the iOS-operating system, as New York Times reported previously.

Apple is expected to hold its annual iPod event in the coming weeks, where we’d likely see the next-generation iPod Touch, which is rumored to sport the same specifications of the iPhone 4 (minus the phone, of course): two cameras, a high-resolution display, an A4 processor and so on. Stay tuned this September.

See Also:


Photo: JoeBaynham/Flickr

Tags: , , , ,
Back to top

U.S. Customers Are Tablet-Hungry, and Not Just for the iPad

Surveys reveal that a substantial chunk of U.S. customers plan to buy a tablet in the next year, and it’s not necessarily going to be an iPad.

Fourteen percent, or 27 million U.S. online consumers, intend to buy some kind of tablet in the next 12 months, says a Forrester research report published Thursday (chart below). Customers interested in purchasing a tablet aren’t primarily Apple customers, and they’re well aware of the crop of upcoming tablets from competitors such as Google and Hewlett-Packard.

Additionally, a similar study by the Magazine Publishers of America found that nearly 60 percent of U.S. consumers expect to purchase an e-reader or tablet within the next three years.

“Even though the iPad is the only widely available tablet PC on the market today, tablets have entered consumer consciousness in a very short time frame,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, a consumer product analyst at Forrester. “There’s interest in the category that goes beyond the iPad.”

Continue Reading “U.S. Customers Are Tablet-Hungry, and Not Just for the iPad” »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Back to top

Android Phones Can Substitute for Supercomputers

There’s an app for almost everything. Now add one that can run calculations from a supercomputer on a Nexus One phone in real time and without the need for internet connectivity.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Texas Advanced Computing Center have created an Android app that can take simulations from the powerful Ranger supercomputer and solve them further on the mobile phone.

“The idea of using a phone is to show we can take a device with one chip and low power to compute a solution so it comes as close to the one solved on a supercomputer,” John Peterson, a research associate at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, told Wired.com.

Many researchers depend heavily on supercomputers capable of millions of calculations per second to simulate problems and advance their studies. Texas Computing Center’s Ranger supercomputer went live in 2008 with 62,976 CPU cores, 123 terabytes of memory, 1.73 petabytes of disk space and 579.4 teraflops of performance.

But massive machines such as the Ranger are not easily available. Researchers have to book time on them and they aren’t available for computations that need to be done quickly. Supercomputers also can’t be carried into field experiments. Having a device in hand that could help solve a problem quickly can be handy.

That’s where a technique called “certified reduced basis approximation” comes into play. The method lets researchers take a complex problem, define the values that are most relevant to the problem and set the upper and lower bounds. David Knezevic, a post-doctoral associate at MIT and Anthony Patera, a professor at the school, refined the technique to make it work on a smartphone. They did it by including strong error bounds that show how close they are to an actual supercomputer solution.

“It’s demonstrating that with a small processor, you can still get a meaningful answer to a big problem,” says Peterson.

The app is just one half of the solution, though. A supercomputer still has to create the reduced model that can be transferred to the phone as an app. When outside the office, researchers can enter values into the app to find answers quickly or visualize data.

For instance, for a problem in fluid dynamics, researchers will spend a day or two simulating a model using a supercomputer like Ranger. Of that computation, they will take a small amount of data and store it on a server as a reduced model.

This reduced model can be used to perform simulations on a cellphone, offering answers near instantaneously for use in real-world applications.

“The payoff for model reduction is large when you can go from an expensive supercomputer solution to a calculation that takes a couple of seconds on a smart phone,” Knezevic told a writer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. “That’s a speed up of orders of magnitude.”

There’s one disadvantage though. The smartphone app has to be customized for the problem it is solving, so it’s not universal.

“If a researcher came along with a problem, he would have to code up his own equation within the framework to represent it on the phone,” says Peterson. “What he would develop would be specific to the problem.”

For now, the researchers have made their app available through files on SourceForge.

Check out their video showing how the app works:

See Also:

Photo: Texas Advanced Computing Center

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Back to top

Prototype Gives A Peek Into Dell’s Next Android Phone

Dell’ mobile division can’t seem to keep a secret so get ready for a peek into the company’s next Android phone codenamed ‘Thunder.’

‘Engadget got its hands on two prototype Thunder phones, the yet to be released  smartphone that Dell  is working on. The phones have a 4.1-inch OLED touch display, a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a 8-megapixel camera. One of the phones runs Android 2.1 and the other has version 1.6 of the Android operating system.

Despite being an early engineering unit, the hardware is impressive in its finish, says Engadget.

Dell got into the smartphone business last year with the launch of its first Android phone in Brazil and China. This year, the company struck a deal with AT&T in the U.S. to introduce its phone called ‘Aero.’ So far, AT&T and Dell have not announced a launch date for the Aero. Meanwhile, Dell has launched the Streak, a device with a 5-inch screen that it bills as a ‘tablet.’ The Streak will cost $300 with a two-year contract on AT&T and $560 without one.

Thunder could help Dell move deeper into the smartphone business. The leaked Thunder prototypes, though, don’t deliver a complete sense of what could be on the phone. For instance, the bootloader and debug software on the prototype units reference features such as FM radio support, dual microphones, HDMI output and a hardware dock connector that aren’t there on the early units.

Dell is also reportedly testing both GSM and CDMA versions so it’s not clear who will eventually steal the Thunder.

Meanwhile, if you want to see how the Thunder prototype works and get all the details, check out the video.

See Also:

Photo: Dell Thunder prototype/Engadget

Tags: , , , , ,
Back to top

Amazing Slow-Motion Video of Things Getting Smashed

No, this post isn’t about a gadget but it is Friday, and the video is the best thing you will have watched all week. What you are seeing is everyday stuff being shot, smashed and shattered, all in incredible slow-motion. The footage is filmed on a Photron SA1.1, a high-speed camera capable of shooting an astonishing 5,000 frames-per-second. To give you an idea of how much information that is, the 1-megapixel sensor needs 8GB of storage for just six-seconds at 1,000-fps.

The movie, titled Tempus II, was made by Philip Heron, a student at Ravensbourne College of art and design in the UK. Make sure you watch it all the way through. My favorite is the shot of the karate guy smashing a cinder-block (or perhaps concrete block) with a chop of the hand. Watch how his fingers bend and distort around the edge of the slab. It looks almost impossible.

Tempus II [Philip Heron/Vimeo via the Giz]

See Also:

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Tags: ,
Back to top

Sony Replaces All Gadget Wiring with Single Copper Strand

Today Sony’s R&D nerds were let out of their basement prison and allowed a brief glimpse of sunlight. They also announced that they are getting medieval on cables, replacing all the inner wiring of a mobile device with a single copper wire.

The problem with a slider-phone, a flip-out screen or any other gadget with moving parts is that you have to string an array of cables to join those parts together. Sony:

Conventionally, the video, audio and control signals as well as the power transmission were spread out over several dozen cables within the movable mechanisms of mobile devices, such as hinges or rotating parts.

The new invention uses a single wire to squirt video, audio, control signals and even DC-power down the same line. The data is sent at 940Mbps, and using this technique its possible to replace the 20+ wires typically found in a cellphone with just one.

Making a device like this should be a lot simpler to do, saving money and space. Sony is doing the right thing and says it plans to license the IP so others can also use it. Good work, Sony engineers. Now, back to the dungeon. We need you to invent some new, awesomely compatible new wonders. You know, like MemoryStick and MiniDisc.

Newly-developed technology facilitates both internal data transmission and power supply with a single cable [Sony via Engadget]

Tags: ,
Back to top

Slim, Minimal iPad Bag is a Purse for Men

“Twylon” may sound like a made-up word, like “gazillion” or “whatchutalkinboutwillis“, but it is in fact a real material, and it joins Nappa leather to make up the Boa Push bag for the iPad.

This iPad bag from Booq deserves a mention for being both small and minimal and at the same time carrying most of what a man might need. The main section is of course iPad-sized, and there is a full-width pocket at the back. On the front is an external patch-pocket for your iPhone or MiFi, depending on how you swing, and inside there are nooks and crannies for pens, credit-cards, a wallet (or a checkbook, for the more retro-minded of you).

A press-stud keeps the flap closed, and the whole thing dangles from a seatbelt-webbing strap, probably the most comfortable strap material out there. And at $90, it’s not a lot more than a simple iPad case or slip-cover. Available in gray or sand colors, to compliment your metropolitan wardrobe.

Boa Push [Booq. Thanks, Brad!]

See Also:

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Tags: , , ,
Back to top

Canon G12: G-Series Regains High-Def Video at Last

Canon has a rich and proud history of leaking its own products, with premature camera listings popping up on its own sites anywhere from China to Germany. Today’s leak is the G12 pro-compact, but the site is CNET Asia – at least nobody on the Canon tech-team will be embarrassed this morning.

The G12 brings back the one thing missing from the G-series since the G9: High-definition video. The new tank-like camera will shoot 720p, just like its new little brother the S95, introduced yesterday. As with the G11 and S90 before, the G12 and S95 share a sensor, in this case a low-light-loving 10MP CCD.

The lens runs from 28-140mm (35mm equivalent) with the maximum aperture shrinking from ƒ2.8 to ƒ4.5 as it goes. The G12 also gets the fancy new multi-direction image-stabilization of the S95 and keeps its big 2.8-inch tilt-and-swivel LCD. Other “highlights” include in-camera HDR for making hideous, over-colored tone-mapped photos by combining three images.

The price wasn’t leaked, but I’d guess it will come in at around $500. Expect an official announcement very soon.

Canon PowerShot G12 Leaked By CNET [Canon Rumors via Photography Bay]

See Also:

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Tags:
Back to top

Quirky’s ‘Petal Drops’ Turns Soda-Bottle into Rain-Catcher

Quirky’s hive-mind has done it again. The design-by-community site will now sell you Petal Drops, a flower-shaped cap which screws onto any old plastic water-bottle, turning it instantly into a tiny water-barrel, ready to water the plants.

The floral funnel collects the rain and at the same time makes the old bottle good-looking enough to leave in the garden: you won’t end up looking like that terrible neighbor with the old car parts and construction materials in his now unsightly front yard.

By now, you know how Quirky works. The products go on pre-order, and are made when the minimum number of orders have been placed. Then, the profits are split, with a proportion going to the “influencers” who helped design the product. This time, the price is just $5.25, and the order threshold has already been crossed. Go get ‘em.

Petal Drops [Quirky]

See Also:

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Tags: , ,
Back to top
« OLDER POSTS
See more Gadget Lab