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Mmm... nothing like the smell of a warm caramel macchiato in the morning being masked by the smell of fresh greenbacks being burned, right? All jesting aside, we're pretty stoked about the world's most recognized coffee joint turning off the pay wall surrounding its in-house WiFi hotspots, and in case you missed the original announcement, we're here to remind you that the free-for-all begins today. As of this very moment, the next US / Canadian corporately-ran Starbucks that you enter should be offering free one two-click WiFi, meaning that no password is required and no time limits will be set. Of course, this also means that you'll never see an open chair in any Starbucks ever again, but hey -- that's why sidewalks were created, right?
Usually, when we see"stimulus" and "broadband" in the same sentence it's because someone turned off our Google Safe Search filter, but today we have one such item that is totally safe for work. According to Information Week, the $7.2 billion in broadband grants and loans that we've already seen will be buttressed by an additional $800 million. A total of sixty-six new infrastructure projects (with up to 5,000 new jobs created in the process) are planned to launch in every state of the union (and Washington DC to boot). That is, of course, if the congressional appropriations committee doesn't siphon off $602 million of it to offset the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Once we emerge from the immediate crisis, the long-term economic gains to communities that have been left behind in the digital age will be immeasurable," President Obama said in the announcement.
The words Netbook and powerhouse usually don’t float well with some people. That was until ASUS announced the Eee PC 1215N featuring the new Atom D525 processor running at 1.8GHz, dual core of course. It also comes with NVIDIA Optimus to intelligently switch between the NVIDIA Ion discrete and integrated graphics. So it will rip right thought 1080p videos with no problem no matter the display, also to thank for that is the HDMI jack. Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11n WiFi, integrated webcam with lens cover, choice of 250GB or 320GB hard disk , 500GB of ASUS WebStorage and pass-through USB to charge connected devices like cellphones when the Eee is powered off. No mention of battery performance, price, or availability on this so-called netbook. But I’m sure it wont be over 500$, and the battery might last two to three hours depending on what your doing.
UK-based online retailer Play.com has listed the full technical specifications of Microsoft's upcoming Kinect, as provided by Microsoft. While the system apparently tracks up to six people at a time, it is only capable of tracking two "active players." We're not sure exactly how an "active player" is defined, but reading the specifications, the term is again used to describe the twenty-point skeleton tracking system and "ability to map players to Live Avatars," so it would appear that for all intents and purposes, only two people can play full-body Kinect games at a time.
The full spec sheet, courtesy Play.com, is below.
Sensor
Colour and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Fully compatible with existing Xbox 360 consoles
Field of View
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m - 3.5m
Data Streams
320x240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640x480 32-bit colour@ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Live Avatars
Audio System
Live party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox Live Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple
We've always wondered whether Microsoft's multitouch table would actually ever arrive, dreaming of Minority Report hijinx all the while, but after seeing what the company's Applied Sciences Group is currently cooking up -- a touchless telepresence display -- we'd rather drop that antiquated pinch-to-zoom stuff in favor of what might be Surface's next generation. Starting with one of Samsung's prototypetransparent OLED panels, Microsoft dropped a sub-two-inch camera behind the glass, creating a 3D gesture control interface that tracks your every move by literally seeing through the display. Combined with that proprietary wedge-shaped lens we saw earlier this month and some good ol' Johnny Chung Lee headtracking by the man himself, we're looking at one hell of a screen. Don't you dare read another word without seeing the prototype in a trifecta of videos after the break.
Well I’ll be damn even with antenna problems, screen related issues, and only 600,000 pre- orders Apple managed to sell 1.7 million iPhone 4 in sales this Saturday. Sunday transaction haven’t even been added up yet, I guess its another reason why Apple and Steve Jobs can walk around with that smug look on there faces. The sells number eclipsed the 3GS with only sold about 1 million units its opening weekend. I know Apples competitors aka Google has a ominous feeling larking over there shoulders with the threat of another launch by Apple.
Looking the Mini-e Pc up and down you can tell its a space saver, and doesn't it look cute standing upright like in this picture. eMachines latest, um, machine "looks like a computer of the future, or at least a idea of what desktops my look like later on down the road. Tell me it doesn't look like something you would see in BattleStar Galactica or Star Trek. The Mini-e ER1402 measures at 7.1 inches and weighs 9 pounds. While it won't handle the latest installment of Crysis running at full spec of course, but stuff like Hulu, and Youtube you'll be ok. What about the spec on this bad boy?the computer features a 1.7GHz AMD Athlon Neo processor, Windows 7 Home Premium, NVIDIA nForce 9200 graphics, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. There are four USB ports and HDMI output (VGA, too) for connecting to your TV or monitor. A wireless keyboard and mouse are included as well. So picture this baby over-clocked running at about 2.0Ghz with 3GB of Ram; its like I said before you wont be able to run Crysis at full specs but it will run most high ends games at the lowest setting. I say "better playable than not right," and at $299.99 need I say more.
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