Month: September 2009

Borders pulls a B&N, offers free WiFi to all patrons

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009


In the gory, never-ending war for book store supremacy, Borders has just tapped Verizon in order to match Barnes & Noble's summer efforts to bring gratis WiFi to all who enter. Details of the arrangement are scant, but the takeaway is this: in "virtually all" of its more than 500 stores nationwide, Borders is hooking up with Verizon to bring free internet to anyone who sashays in (note: you literally have to dance upon entering) with a WiFi-enabled device. The service is expected to be fully rolled out by mid-October, giving you plenty of time to select the scarf and skinny jeans you'd like to be seen in by your fellow hipsters.

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Borders pulls a B&N, offers free WiFi to all patrons originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s ION-enriched N510 reviewed approvingly, still needs price trim

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

We dare say NVIDIA's ION platform hasn't been the quickest to go from announcement to market availability, but at long last we're seeing a number of pretty decent options cropping up. The Samsung N510 is a great test case for the prowess of the chipset, as it boasts the otherwise entirely unremarkable Atom N280, 1GB RAM and 160GB HDD spec, meaning that whatever performance gains it exhibits will be down to the ION infrastructure. Unsurprisingly, the 11.6-inch machine showed marked improvements over standard netbooks in the graphics department, with hardware-accelerated 1080p video decoding and mildly graphically-intensive games made possible. With six and a half hours of battery life and a matte 1366 x 768 screen, the N510 was well received by the PC Pro team, who could only bemoan the uncompetitive pricing of £382 (about $613). Hit the read link for their full impressions.

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Samsung's ION-enriched N510 reviewed approvingly, still needs price trim originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DoubleSight New Smart USB Monitor Series

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

The use of multiple monitors or multi-displays to increase the productivity is a catching up trend nowadays. Some users are perhaps looking at setting up multiple monitors but cannot figure out how it can be done. To simplify the set up for users, DoubleSight Displays has brought to users a straightforward multiple monitor solution by [...]

[ This is a content summary only. Visit My Digital Life or Tip and Trick for full article, links, other content, and more! ]

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Dell’s sensual Latitude Z now on sale, starts at $1,799

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009


Mmm, sexy. To be honest, we're still trying to shake the butterflies we felt when we touched Dell's 16-inch Latitude Z yesterday, and if you'd care to join us, you can place your order right now. The base package gets going at $1,799 after a $200 instant rebate, and that'll net you a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo SU9400 CPU, 64GB SSD, Intel's GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, 2GB of RAM, a 4-cell battery, 8x slot-loading DVD burner, 802.11a/g/n WiFi and a 3-year warranty. So, who's putting a dent in their credit card tonight? Be honest -- we're all friends here.

[Via Laptoping]

Gallery: Dell Latitude Z 600 hands-on

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Dell's sensual Latitude Z now on sale, starts at $1,799 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Livestream Livepack: a ’satellite television truck in a backpack’

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009


"Game changing" is thrown around way too frequently these days, but man, this thing just might be. The Livepack is being described as "a satellite television truck in a backpack" by creator Livestream, and for all intents and purposes, it is. Put simply (or as simply as possible), the pack includes everything one would need to stream "HD quality" footage: encoding hardware, a Firewire cable and the real kicker, a built-in wireless connection with six load-balanced 3G modems over three carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint if you have to know). Users simply provide their own camcorder, mash a button when it's show time, and out goes the signal. The Livepack can currently be rented for $2,500 per month (includes 30 hours of streaming) or $1,500 per month if you commit to a year-long agreement. So, who's up for showing the world their high school prom live in HD? Demo vid is after the break.

[Via Red Ferret]

Continue reading Livestream Livepack: a 'satellite television truck in a backpack'

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Livestream Livepack: a 'satellite television truck in a backpack' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Auto refresh any web page

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

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Last night when the Apple store went down, I got tired of hitting refresh in Safari every few minutes while waiting for it to come back up, and went searching for something that would do the job for free.

Now, this is not for coders who will laugh hysterically at my incompetence, but for those of you that are either lazy or don't program at all. I fit both categories.

Back in 2005 someone going by the moniker of Biovizier posted the solution on Macosxhints.com. It's a little html snippet that will refresh any web page as frequently as you'd like, and its easily customizable for any page at all.

Here it is:

<html>
<head>
<**** **********="refresh" content="60">
</head>
<body>
<FRAMESET>
<FRAME src="http://www.tuaw.com">
</FRAMESET>
</body>
</html>



Copy this into TextEdit and save it with an .html extension. Then just double click it.

You can change the refresh time from 60 to the amount of seconds you want to wait before the page refreshes, and you can change the URL to anything you want. I was using: http://apple.com/store and having it refresh every 20 seconds which must make me a certifiable fanatic.

Since I saw this I've found a ton of uses for it, like refreshing eBay auctions in the last few minutes, or just leaving it set for TUAW to see new stories coming up when I'm doing something else. At present I have four or five of these snippets in a folder on my desktop for different purposes.

Give it a try and see if you don't find a handful of uses for it.

Okay, you coders can stop laughing now.

Note: TJ Luoma just let me know that this tip won't work with Twitter which intentionally blocks this sort of thing.


Thanks to macosxhints.com and Biovizier wherever you are.

TUAWAuto refresh any web page originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: Dell’s Adamo keeps patient company on House

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Heads-up, folks: fall TV is in full swing, and the newest season of House M.D. has already delivered on more than one front. Aside from convincing you that a hospital really is no place to spend the majority of your day, Hugh Laurie's money maker is also subtly whispering to you that a Dell Adamo would suit you just fine. The super sleek ultraportable managed to show its face on this week's episode, and for any of you out there who doubt a glossy screen's ability to double as a mirror, we'd say this primetime showing proves otherwise. Are matte panels not covered under Medicare, or what?

[Thanks, Steven]

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Screen Grabs: Dell's Adamo keeps patient company on House originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony thinks its “aspirational” PSP Go might encourage an uptick in PSP-3000 purchases

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

We've heard plenty of arguments for high priced products before -- many of them from Sony, oddly enough -- but this has to one of the odder ones. Sony UK's Claire Blackhouse says that Sony was actually expecting a greater backlash from retailers than it got in regards to the PSP Go, and that many retailers are seeing the new launch as a way to get consumers into stores, at which point they'll realize they're too poor for a PSP Go and might end walking out with a PSP-3000 instead. Sadly, the logic sounds pretty sound, though Claire's own suggestions that some families might get a PSP Go for dad and PSP 3000s for the kids seems a little fantastical -- kinda hard for dad to rock those Hannah Montana UMDs, yeah Sony?

[Via Joystiq]

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Sony thinks its "aspirational" PSP Go might encourage an uptick in PSP-3000 purchases originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp combines its latest LCD improvements in LX series HDTVs

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

Coming straight out of a brand new 10G production facility in Sakai, Sharp's line of LX HDTVs (in 60-, 52-, 46- and 40-inch sizes) are all sporting the latest in LCD technology with UV&sup2;A panels and LED backlighting. Unfortunately, like Sony, these new screens abandon the higher quality RGB LED technology of the pricey XS1 series for cheaper white LEDs. Still, with a price of around $5,000 for a 52-inch compared to the $12,000 sticker shock of the XS1, it's easy to see why the switch was made. Other improvements include a light sensor for auto-calibration, a six speaker (5 speakers on the 40-inch) integrated 2.1 channel sound system with "Duo Bass" subwoofer and the usual assortment of VOD and AQUOS network support in store for Japanese buyers this November. While already available on a few U.S. models expect the new tech to spread across Sharp's U.S. lineup shortly, not to mention Sony and anyone other parties interested in a piece of the company's suddenly expanded manufacturing muscle.

[Via AV Watch & Akihabara News]

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Sharp combines its latest LCD improvements in LX series HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okoro delivers mini Media PCs with a full size price tag

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009

Continuing its streak of questionably high priced media PCs Okoro has announced the new OMS-Q100 and OMS-Q200 Quantum mini Digital Entertainment Systems. Combining an Intel Atom processor and NVIDIA ION in the OMS-Q200 and Mobile Core 2 Duo in the OMS-Q200 with 4GB of RAM with 320GB of hard drive space, 7.1 audio outputs, OTA & QAM recording capability (plus optional digital cable tuner) these tiny, quiet boxes could find a welcoming home theater somewhere, though the starting price of $1,295 may make for a difficult fit. You probably don't need our help to put together something equivalent or better for less than that, but feel welcome to it.

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Okoro delivers mini Media PCs with a full size price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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