On Hoth, Every Day Is Valentine’s Day [Valentine's Day]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 9th, 2010
Nothing says “I love you” quite like intergalactic frenemies walking hand in hand. Illustrator James Stowe appears to agree, having made a different Valentine’s Day card for each Star Wars episode. And not a Jar Jar in sight!
My favorite might be Greedo and Han, but they’re all pretty terrific. And what a relief to not to see Luke and Leia sharing a card. Or Leia and Jabba, for that matter.
It doesn’t look as though you can purchase these, but you can always print them out for that special someone. And if he or she’s a real fan, you’re almost guaranteed a little Wookiee.
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[Art by Stowe via Neatorama]
VIZIO Super Bowl ad pushes internet connected HDTVs in a big way
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 8th, 2010
We weren’t sure exactly what Beyonce, David Goes to the Dentist and Chocolate Rain all had in common, but VIZIO squeezed them all into its Super Bowl ad. Still striving to remake its reputation from being merely a cheap HDTV manufacturer to a premium one offering lots of features, the ad (embedded after the break) shows how it’s bringing “the best of the internet” with VIZIO Internet Apps. We still need to see if its picture quality will measure up and whether the widget experience has gotten any better (read: faster) in 2010 to be truly convinced, but a slick ad never hurt.
Continue reading VIZIO Super Bowl ad pushes internet connected HDTVs in a big way
VIZIO Super Bowl ad pushes internet connected HDTVs in a big way originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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No One Needs To Know About Your Paper iPad [Ipad]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 7th, 2010
Someone might judge you for putting together a mock iPad, but it’s certainly not going to be us. Be it for practicing the Tablet Sutra or faking out a fanboy friend, here’s the template you’ve been looking for.
Courtesy of Jess Silverstone at Revolutionary Concepts, this template can be printed on standard paper and will fold into an iPad that’s just about the same size as the real thing, as long as your printer is capable of borderless printing.
Here’s the front and the back, and here’s what your arts and crafts project will look like when it’s all put together:
So have at it. I’m not gonna ask any questions. [MacRumors]
PlayStation 3 still a loss leader, ’six cents for every dollar’ of hardware sold
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 6th, 2010
Though Sony’s overall bottom line is back in black, what held it back from an even bigger celebration cake was its core electronics brand, and no stranger to that sector is the PlayStation group. Both Joystiq and The Wall Street Journal took a more careful look at the numbers, and there’s a few points worth noting. PS2 sales took a year-over-year dip, down from 2.5 million to 2.1 million. PSP took a larger hit, down to 4.2 million from 5.1 million. The PS3, however, is a mix of good and bad news. The good news: 6.5 million in unit sales, up from the 4.5 million prior. That said, it turns out Sony has yet to pull its home console away from “loss leader” status — WSJ reports the company is still losing “about six cents for every dollar of PS3 hardware sales,” i.e. if Sony were to sell the consoles to retailers for $300, it’d technically be taking a hit of $18 each time. That’s nowhere near the estimates when the PS3 first launch, and additionally Sony’s CFO Nobuyuki Oneda is promising a 15 percent reduction cost by March 2011, which should go a long way. Lets’ not forget the company still makes money on Blu-rays and software sales, but in the meantime, hang tight little buddy, you’re this close to being profitable all by your lonesome.
Update: An error in fiscal sales figures that has been subsequently remedied.
PlayStation 3 still a loss leader, ’six cents for every dollar’ of hardware sold originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Zune Pass hit by wave of disappearing music?
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 5th, 2010
[Thanks, Zack]
Zune Pass hit by wave of disappearing music? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Amazon Said to Buy Touch Start-Up
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Technology on February 4th, 2010
The Internet retailer has acquired Touchco, a New York start-up, according to a person briefed on the deal.
Major textbook pubs partner with ScrollMotion for iPad development
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 3rd, 2010
Putting traditional print publication on an iPhone screen is old hat for ScrollMotion, and now it’s taking that know-how to a larger screen. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kaplan, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, and the educational sector of McGraw-Hill have all made deals with the company to develop textbook apps and test-prep / study guide apps for the Apple iPad. No other details are given and we unfortunately lack any timeline. It certainly makes the machine more classroom-viable, but we’ll hold judgment until we see what actually comes of this partnership — your move, Kindle.
Major textbook pubs partner with ScrollMotion for iPad development originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Acer not making a tablet, will focus on ultra-thin laptops
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 2nd, 2010
We’re sort of loving Acer’s new bad-boy vibe — not only have company execs recently gone on record saying that US PC manufacturers will be dead within 20 years and that the “change the Microsoft-Intel environment” but now they’re standing firm while everyone else races to do a tablet. At least that’s the word from Acer Taiwan president Scott Lin, who told Digitimes that while Acer can certainly produce a tablet device, it doesn’t fit into the company’s business model. What’s more, he doubts that other companies can simply copy Apple’s hardware and succeed — instead, Acer’s going to focus on ultra-thin laptops, a category Acer expects to account for 20-30 percent of its business this year. Lin also said Acer will introduce some new models that are less then 2cm (.7 inches) thick — assuming there’s an ARM-based Chrome OS netbook in that mix, we can certainly see the super thin and light laptop category and the tablet category aligning as direct competitors in the near future.
Acer not making a tablet, will focus on ultra-thin laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mac OS X 10.3 installed on Nokia N900 via PearPC, barely usable for impatient geeks
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on February 1st, 2010
Curious folks around the world enjoy a bit of hackintosh every now and then (although once is enough for many), but no geek has successfully ventured as far as Toni Nikkanen of Finland, who became the first person to run OS X on a phone — the Nokia N900. As you can see in the video after the break, Toni’s hack relies on PearPC — a PowerPC emulator — to install good ol’ OS X 10.3 (Panther), but the mammoth sluggishness means it’s far from usable. Still, if you can spare 90 minutes for each boot-up plus plenty more for the snail-paced cursor, then head to the source to learn from Herra Nikkanen.
[Thanks, Matija]
Continue reading Mac OS X 10.3 installed on Nokia N900 via PearPC, barely usable for impatient geeks
Mac OS X 10.3 installed on Nokia N900 via PearPC, barely usable for impatient geeks originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Star Wars Opening Crawl Finally Reaches Earth [Comedy]
Posted by: Gadget Boy in Gadget News, Technology on January 31st, 2010
I took two astronomy classes in college, and one of the few things I retained is that in space stuff just keeps floating. Thus, the Star Wars opening text, though originating galaxies away, will eventually make its way to Earth…
That catastrophic eventuality is the subject of this video, which was was filmed over a couple of hours but ultimately took weeks to complete due to all the post-production and editing. And it shows; the effects are pretty impressive throughout.
Though I guess if you’re gonna do a high concept YouTube like the Star Wars text raining down on Earth, it’s best to do it right. [Reddit]
