Domain: engadget.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to engadget.com.
Comments · 3,876
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Re:buying Apple is in nobody's interest
the company creates almost no jobs in the US
Yeah right. Apple employs nobody in the US. The new campus is actually a project to bring aliens onto Earth.
That is in addition to Apple's monopolistic practices
Which market does Apple have a monopoly in?
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"Foxconn posts $943 million net profit..."
"Foxconn posts $943 million net profit for first half of 2011". That's not bad. Hon Hai (Foxconn's parent) continues to grow each year. They've just entered the solar panel industry.
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Re:Google will smile and laugh
Google had a significant portion of the Chinese market before pulling out - over 35%. And even with the current situation where they have much less marketshare, they're profitable. So basically you're full of shit.
Google had been against censorship all along, but decided to try and change China from the inside. Eventually, they discovered that it wasn't possible, so they stuck up for their principles and took their ball and went home. It's rare that you see a company put principle ahead of profit, and they should be commended for it.
If they are so against censorship then why is it only china they did this in while actively working with european and other asian countries to censor content? google has NEVER been against censorship, they are against government restricting there profit margin.
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Re:Google will smile and laugh
Google had a significant portion of the Chinese market before pulling out - over 35%. And even with the current situation where they have much less marketshare, they're profitable. So basically you're full of shit.
Google had been against censorship all along, but decided to try and change China from the inside. Eventually, they discovered that it wasn't possible, so they stuck up for their principles and took their ball and went home. It's rare that you see a company put principle ahead of profit, and they should be commended for it.
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Re:Dichotomy
Heck, you could probably carry a hand grenade on if you put an Apple logo on it.
Or you could wire the grenade to yourself, and say it's the iGrenade. But, alas you could never be the biggest Apple-sheik terrorist.
(holy !@$#% jihad, Apple-sheik already existed in slashdot's spellchecker!)
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Major sites moving off of GoDaddy
and several major sites threatened to pull their domains from Go Daddy, including Stack Overflow and I Can Has Cheezburger.
You can add Wikipedia to that list. [cite]
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ROFLOL
Should toshiba quietly let them build it and then sue for royalties? http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/toshiba-shows-off-latest-laptop-fuel-cell-prototype/
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Re:Patent the future
Well that hasn't stopped others from trying fuel cells in various devices like cameras, naturally followed immediately by some company patenting the implementation.
But their implementation is new. See the fuel cell also powers the attached flash. Well there's something that isn't immediately obvious to anyone who has used a point and shoot cameras, attached a GPS receiver to a camera which is powered through the connector, or used a lens with an autofocus motor / VR system in it. You're saying you can use one device to power the other? Say it ain't so! How novel.
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Re:LOL
You're wrong
There are only three now, as Samsung's hdd division has been bought by Seagate http://drive.seagate.com/content/samsung-en-us
And Hitachi by WD http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/23/western-digital-purchase-of-hitachis-hard-drive-business-approv/
Toshiba doesn't really count so now we have a duopoly ...... which is why they are doing it naturally... -
Re:Seagate
Simple:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/seagate-samsung-acquisition/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/07/western-digital-drops-4-3-billion-to-acquire-hitachi-gst-enter/
http://www.crn.com/news/storage/188100939/seagate-wraps-up-maxtor-acquisition.htmWhen/if the Hitachi acquisition closes, you only have two vendors in the spinning magnetic disk market. Last time there was a large industry shift to shorter warranties, one or two companies did not and after a few months the rest of the industry moved back. With only two companies in play, it's far less likely someone will retain long warranty as a competitive advantage. Same reason why the flood was so devastating, one company consolidates so much in one location and a natural disaster wipes out half the manufacturing capacity of that industry.
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Interesting Kit
Have you seen this kit from Engadget?
It looks interesting but they have been sold out for a week. I guess they weren't prepared for demand from the media response. I've been keeping my eye on this because of the functionality. Being able to build a robot with my kids out of a toy is appealing. Specifically one that can listen to voice commands and be controlled by our Wii Remote Control. I think the best part is I do not need to know how to program. The last thing I have time for is learning how to program when I have a career already! From what I understand, the software has a programming language that we can use later. My son will learn it. I sure won't!
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Re:Samsung...
In the U.S., design patents can only be granted for "ornamental" features. i.e. features which serve no functional purpose. The Coca-Cola bottle is the archetypical example. Making that bottle that shape serves no function, it's completely ornamental.
In that regard, flat, rectangular, and rounded corners are all functional, which is why Apple was denied the injunction they sought against Samsung in the U.S. The color of the bezel could be regarded as ornamental, but with black, white, and silver being the most common choices, I seriously doubt any design patent based on a black bezel would stand. If Apple striped it a certain way, that might qualify. The only other design patent-worthy aspect of the Apple's complaint I can think of is the radius of the rounded corners. But that can easily be circumvented by using rounded corners with a slightly different radius.
And by the way, the appearance of the iPad from the front is a near-clone of a Samsung digital picture frame released in 2006. Be careful who you accuse of copying whom. -
Re:Just ordered a Samsung Series 7 Slate for that
I asked who would want Windows Phone on a desktop. You gave me the exact opposite thing: You like Windows 7 on a tablet.
Now look that that thing: Samsung Series 7 Slate. $1099 asking price. Good selection of I/O slots. Better than average video. Pen. 3.5 hours battery life.
If you really want Windows 7 in a tablet, then this thing with 3x the battery life would be a dream machine. I wonder what it weighs.
So you could have 2 iPads, 6 Kindle Fires, 12 Novo7's, or this. And you like this. Good for you.
You're a corner case. Fringe. Out of the mainstream. Most of us don't like Windows so much that we're going to let it get in the way of all this new good stuff. And especially not enough to tether to a wall every 4 hours. For what this costs I could get an Android tablet for all the kids that are currently stealing my Asus Transformer, and have $400 left to buy apps. And I have Citrix, Onlive gaming and various other things, so it doesn't do anything I can't do better from my Android tablet that cost less than half as much. I can wifi tether to my phone, access my citrix, open Outlook Excel Word and Powerpoint just like I was at my desk - and put it on the conference room bigscreen over HDMI in 1080 res.
When Microsoft could prevent people from having cool new stuff by managing their partners you might have had a point. But you can only hold back the tide for so long. Eventually, the tide wins.
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Re:Hardly a fair comparison
Three dollars, eight dollars, you guys are both missing the point.
People buy cheaper books on Kindles and Nooks BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Nobody will print a three dollar book for long, and fewer book stores will stock it, and even Amazon does not carry it for long due to the cost of warehouse space. These inexpensive books from new authors or older titles from known authors simply disappear from the market in printed form.
But these books can remain in ebook form forever, taking up on average half of a floppy disk work of computer storage someplace in the Amazon cloud/
Then there is the whole issue of residual value, which has been thrashed about on Slashdot in the past. You can sell your paper books, donate them to libraries, or what ever. But the publishers (with Amazon and Barnes and Noble's reluctant acquiescence) have circumvented the first sale doctrine and essentially limited your ownership rights to digital books.
This is being looked into (a year too late) by the DOJ and the EU but action is probably far off.
While that percolates, people are less apt to pay full price for a book they can't own. The market is slowly realizing this and placing a value on that residual ownership as people hold off buying this year's best sellers while they read last year's best sellers. The net result is a lower price that people are willing to pay for a damaged title. (see what I did there?).
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Wait for windows phone in 2013...
Just imagine: in 2013 having a windows phone that:
a) Can be used as a phone (of course!)
b) Can be used as a tablet (windows 8 with the Metro UI)
c) Can be used as a computer (windows 8 with the Classic UI)
d) Can be used as a game console (it is rumored that the next xbox could run in ARM processors a variant of the windows 8 kernel).Microsoft is known for improving its products version after version... Everyone thinks that Windows Phone 7.5 is a very goog start: just read the reviews:
- Engadget ( http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/27/windows-phone-7-5-mango-review/ )
"While Windows Phone still needs a glass of water to get rid of a few hiccups -- and let's face it, every mobile OS has plenty of their own -- it ironed out a lot of the wrinkles from earlier versions and made it a much more feature-laden, user-friendly experience. With Mango, WP7 has caught up with Android and iOS in nearly every way, and in some areas it's even surpassed the other two in functionality. Despite a grim first year, the bright future of Windows Phone is forcing Ballmer to wear shades."
- The Verge ( http://www.theverge.com/2011/10/24/2509332/windows-phone-75-mango-review )
"Put simply, regardless of your preconceptions, Windows Phone finally deserves an honest look the next time you’re ready to buy a phone — particularly as we start to see new devices come to market over the next few weeks."
- gsmarena ( http://www.gsmarena.com/windows_phone_7_5-review-655.php )
"WP7 lacked key functionality, which deterred potential consumers. Version 7.5 however brings things that will appeal to businesspeople, social networking buffs and people who like a novel software experience. If you're using Microsoft software (chances are you're using at least Office at work), WP7.5 offers the smoothest, most well-rounded experience. The rich bundle of several social networks and IM clients and emails and texts is beautifully organized too. And let's face it, the Windows Phone interface is the only UI around that's truly different - iOS, Android, even Symbian are becoming harder and harder to tell apart. The only thing that held it back was the lack of multitasking and now that's been sorted out." -
Re:Why compare announce dates to release dates?
Are you trying to distort the truth?
The JooJoo was released before the iPad, and was prototyped way before the iPad.
But long after the rumors about an Apple Tablet started. Not top mention that iOS started on a tablet.
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Re:It's a trap: Next step: Proprietary battery
Heck Sony has even started chipping their cameras the way printer manufacturers chip their cartridges to prevent 3rd party batteries from eating into their overpriced originals.
Yeah, but knock-off printer cartridges don't explode because they were made without protective circuitry.
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Re:The US subscription model is the most broken th
You do realize that Apple TV was released 4 years ago and you can probably walk into any Apple store and pick one up.
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Sony memory sticks...
This is hardly news. Sony has always gone the proprietary memory format and they have always been much more expensive than the generic equivalent. Is Sony even all that relevant anymore ? I could barely give away my PSP (slim) and don't get me started on the current PS3 with it's ridiculous looking motion controllers is utterly lame next to playing Kinect games on the Xbox.
If the Vita also doubled as a decent phone, gps, and camera, I might take a look at it, but who really needs another web enabled device to lug around. My Windows Phone already ties in with my Xbox and has some entertaining away from the PC/Xbox games ... and it's a day away from getting even more integrated with my Xbox.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/05/xbox-companion-app-for-wp7-will-launch-alongside-the-new-dashboa/ -
Re:So what?
Which is all well and good until you decide you want to watch a DVD or play a DRMed file for which the gardener didn't feel support was acceptable. Granted these days DVDs wouldn't likely be a problem, but in the past it definitely was an issue. And given Apple's history, I see no reason to assume that it's going to be restricted to niche applications that most people don't want or need either. It remains to be seen if that continues or if it spreads to other gardens, but there is precedence for it.
For any doubters unaware of the history hedwards is referencing, three words: "bag of hurt"
IOW you guys are complaining that Apple doesn't support draconian DRM.
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Re:So what?
Which is all well and good until you decide you want to watch a DVD or play a DRMed file for which the gardener didn't feel support was acceptable. Granted these days DVDs wouldn't likely be a problem, but in the past it definitely was an issue. And given Apple's history, I see no reason to assume that it's going to be restricted to niche applications that most people don't want or need either. It remains to be seen if that continues or if it spreads to other gardens, but there is precedence for it.
For any doubters unaware of the history hedwards is referencing, three words:
"bag of hurt" -
Re:They've created an Us and Them situation...
Time to wake up... this is years ahead of iOS, especially since iOS 5 is still 80% the same as iOS 1.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/27/windows-phone-7-5-mango-review/
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Re:Should have got a blackberry...
I know that that statement makes me fully confident... "CIQ is not installed on Blackberry smartphones." is short, punchy, and sounds nice. Who wants to guess why their spokesweasel went with the above, instead?
Because RIM can't block other people from installing apps after the fact. RIM can't block YOU from installing apps. The platform is designed that way.
RIM has always been very honest about their software. The RIM software clearly lists apps that are installed, and the authors. RIM software lets you selectively grant or deny permissions to software YOU install on YOUR blackberry. RIM software lets YOU delete software from YOUR blackberry.
Moreover, a few years back when Etisalat (an Arab mobile carrier) tried to trick its users to installing spyware, RIM was clear and honest about it:
http://us.blackberry.com/ataglance/security/regappremover.jsp
RIM was very clear that the software wasn't from them, they didn't write it, they didn't assist Etisalat in writing it, RIM didn't authorize it, and how to remove the spyware from YOUR blackberry if YOU choose to.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/21/etisalat-blackberry-update-was-indeed-spyware-rim-provides-a-so/
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Re:Battery life?
Without the dock they are about the same according to Engadget. With the dock the Transformer gets six more hours or so. This is in line with my experience on the original Transformer. Battery life is "enough to stop worrying about whether you're going to run out."
The engadget battery test is pretty basic... simply running a video repeatedly. The Verge test is a bit more complex, involving web page refreshes and other activity that more accurately simulates daily usage (notably wireless is a huge battery drainer)... and in the Verge review of the product [1], the reviewer put the tablet at 5-6hrs without the dock, about half the iPad (note: reviewer will retest battery and update soon).
Note: I'm pretty excited about the Transformer Prime (still awaiting ICS/CM9), and hope it does well on the retest... it's a very decent competitor to the iPad.
[1] http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/1/2601558/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review
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Re:Battery Hog To BootIt has the same battery life as the iPad2: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/asus-eee-pad-transformer-prime-review/ I quote:
"Pity the Engadget editor who had to babysit this thing while it ran unplugged, looping through our battery drain test for hours and hours. ASUS says the Prime's 22Wh pack should last a maximum of 12 hours without the dock and indeed, it squeezed out an impressive 10 hours and 17 minutes in our battery rundown test, which involves looping a video with the brightness fixed at 50 percent and WiFi on but not connected. That's a scant nine minutes short of what the iPad 2 accomplished in the same test"
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Re:Battery life?
Without the dock they are about the same according to Engadget. With the dock the Transformer gets six more hours or so. This is in line with my experience on the original Transformer. Battery life is "enough to stop worrying about whether you're going to run out."
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Re:Ubuntu
Not sure if it's "real" enough for you, but Ubuntu is coming to tablets.
Whether that means you'll be able to run any Linux application you like remains to be seen, but I imagine if it's Debian-based it should be quite hackable.
Ubuntu is already running on the ASUS TF101 and an idiot proof install is in early stages of development.
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Ubuntu
Not sure if it's "real" enough for you, but Ubuntu is coming to tablets.
Whether that means you'll be able to run any Linux application you like remains to be seen, but I imagine if it's Debian-based it should be quite hackable.
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Re:Engadget just did a review
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/25/engadgets-holiday-gift-guide-2011-digital-cameras/
If you just want to snap pics, go for the lumix. If you want low light photography, I'd go for the s100.
Don't.
A cheap-o, used dSLR body with a decent non-zoom lens will be better in training the eye IMHO. Once you have a zoom you're tempted to use versus taking the scene as-is and being creative in making into a worth-while picture.
Also, fixed focal length (i.e. non-zoom) lenses also tend to be 'faster' (f/2.8, 2, 1.8. 1.4), which helps to get pictures in low-light situations which generally result in the use of a flash with P&S. The main reason I have a dSLR is because I truly dislike dear-in-headlights photos from P&S devices; bounce flash can look quite nice, but you can't get that on a P&S either.
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Engadget just did a review
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/25/engadgets-holiday-gift-guide-2011-digital-cameras/
If you just want to snap pics, go for the lumix. If you want low light photography, I'd go for the s100.
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Well, they already have this -
A Printer with an Android tablet built in. http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/12/hp-photosmart-estation-c510-printer-android-tablet-now-on-sale/ Maybe they want to change from Android to WebOS, or maybe they are just at step 3. - $$$ Profit
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Re:Value of CWIt's faster than texting, and texting is probably faster than sending an email with a modern client (keyboard shortcuts in Pine might have beaten it). So Morse is faster, more efficient, and cheaper - and my engineering professors said it was impossible to have all three!
At first glance this argument may be a straw man (subbing in texting for email), but it's probably a legitimate substitution. Comments welcome.
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Re:Who cares. Let them.
Look at it as a late attempt by M$...
Perhaps they would have done this earlier if Antitrust law did not prevent it?
...to compensate for the woeful intrinsic insecurity of their family of operating systems...
Your information is outdated by almost 5 years (you're talking about pre-Vista days). For example, read here: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/the-engadget-interview-dr-charlie-miller/
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Re:UEFI doesn't have MBR
Show me a single major PC manufacturer who ships a machine that dual-boots Windows and any non-Microsoft OS.
No, really. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Read what i wrote, i didn't say 'dual-boots', I said 'Linux-based PCs', I also said that they canned the project as in it is no longer running, it's not that hard to read and it's not at all obfuscated so you shouldn't have that much trouble with it. The Dell Ubuntu PCs could dual boot but weren't sold in that configuration, they were sold with just Linux until Dell realized that relatively no-one wanted to buy a PC with Ubuntu pre-installed.
Dell did ship PCs with Ubuntu but dropped it due to it's poor sales performance but they are reportedly bringing it back in the chinese market.
Asus are shipping PCs with Ubuntu Linux as well.
And although they aren't yet, HP have announced plans to include webOS as a boot option on their PCs. -
it's a global problem
Much of the US industry comes from immaterial things like copyrights, patents and artificial restrictions. This is true for both entertainment industry and things like drugs and medication.
So does much of Europe's industry.
But lets not forget that back in time, this is how US got its power - they blatantly ignored European copyrights. Now others are doing the same to US, and they're suffering. What goes around.. Comes around.
What a brilliant stroke of anti-Americanism: you hold the US responsible first for fighting draconian European copyrights, then for learning its lesson, building businesses around them, and enforcing them.
But in actual fact, the companies advocating copyright are international: companies like Bertelsmann and Sony are a big part of this. Europe just extended its copyright terms to "protect" the Beatles.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/14/european-union-extends-beatles-copyright-still-gonna-have-to-b/
Trying to change IP laws by blaming America for everything isn't just factually incorrect, it is ineffective because it misses the source of problem.
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For Those Interested In The Product
The Nook Tablet (unrooted) is slightly more open than the Kindle Fire (unrooted)
Some links:
My takeaway is if you have your gold geek card, get the Fire (less money) and root it. If you're less adventuresome, get the Nook for more openness, but get an micro-SD card or you're stuck with only 1GB of free memory.
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This device!
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The answer is:
BlueQ or a modificated version of WakeMate may be the answer to this need. http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/21/wakemate-review/ http://gizmodo.com/261758/hands+on-with-blueq-bluetooth-wristbands-verdict-they-work-as-advertised Cool, right?
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Some health advice towards the end of this page:http://www.changemakers.com/node/113512/comments
I'll copy it here:
By the way, here are some key useful health related links, and these are some of the issues I'd like to use such a system to discuss, refine, rebut, or promote.
On healthy diet:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812Knife and blender skills for eating better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhfAE6McrM
http://greensmoothierevolution.com/On medically supervised fasting (both water and juice) and health:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting....
http://www.healthpromoting.com/why-water-fasting
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/And on getting enough vitamin D (in decreasing levels of recommended supplements):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d...
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspxOn vitamin D and pregnancy:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100504/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-cut-...
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions...On autism and health care in general:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_...Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-deba...
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515108Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-geneTreadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/wal -
Re:All I want
According to DirecTV that's entirely up to you. Since the HD DVR they currently have can only decode two channels at a time (still waiting for the new five tuner HR34 to drop) opposed to the four I was accustomed to with U-Verse I opted to get a second DVR. Since they are networked I can watch all recordings from any receiver in the house just like I did with U-Verse. I also like the fact the HD receivers are all DLNA clients as well. The interface isn't very polished but it works well enough.
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Re:Too bad
Perhaps Google plans their own set top box?
No, but they have already announced an Android 3.1 implementation, and screenshots released so far look like they've taken on board the complaints about the older version. Might be worth buying up one of Logitech's cheap Revues if they decide to dump them at bargain bucket prices.
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Re:BN
Just a quick search online confirmed this was already done
... http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/10/nook-color-meet-ubuntu-ubuntu-meet-nook-color/ -
Re:Netflix
Apparently there's already a working Chrome plugin for ChromeOS.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/09/netflix-watch-instantly-streaming-now-works-on-chromeos-when-it/
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Re:where are the long-range hybrids?
the _real_ point is however that relying on "pure electric" is just.. madness, it really is. hybrids are the middle-ground compromise, but doing a really good job, by designing a decent aerodynamic shape, that's where i want to get to. so, i'm going ahead and designing exactly that: a decent aerodynamic bodyshell for use on an EV series-hybrid car.
Unfortunately, people don't *want* super lightweight, super aerodynamic cars. Few people want to be on the road in a 300kg low to the ground plastic bodied car when the guy behind him is in a big 2500kg SUV. Those people that *are* comfortable in that situation are probably on a motorcycle already... or a bicycle.
Corbin Motors had an interesting electric vehicle, but it wasn't commercially viable:
There are plenty of super aerodynamic prototypes around. Here's one 200mpg car:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/14/aptera-takes-wraps-off-200-mpg-prototype-car/
But getting people to use them for everyday transportation is the hard part.
The reason current hybrids look like regular cars is because people *want* regular cars and expect a certain amount of utility and safety from their car.
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Re:Speed
When the iPhone 4 hit 3 million sold the return rate was 1.7% or about 51.000 phones. Clearly the antenna was horrible (!)
The fix was to put a case on it, just because people did that instead of returning it doesn't mean the antenna isn't a horrible design. Did that concept escape you or are you just shilling for apple?
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Re:Will not work
There is no room in the market for Windows based tablets.
Also, there is a market for maybe six computers, and 640KBytes of RAM should be enough for anybody.
Yes, iOS and Android based tablets are sufficient for the overwhelming amount of consumer usage cases, but that doesn't mean that there is no room for a Windows tablet.
One thing that always irked me was the fact that there is no such thing as a true desktop replacement tablet. Overkill for OneNote, but I'm sure that I could find more than a few die-hard Mac-based graphic designers who would begrudgingly eyeball a Windows tablet if it had the guts to run Photoshop and drawing was possible on a 15" convertible screen. They'd be expensive no doubt, but consider that Wacom has an entire industry built around a stylus-based input peripheral. Half the graphic design majors I went to school with had one, and the other half did their best to bum one during final project week. Clearly it's not a machine that would appeal to everyone, but if IBM saw a market for a laptop with two screens and an integrated Wacom pen input, then I believe it's safe to say that more than a few people who make a lot more money than me saw a niche worth filling.
That's almost the point: Let Apple and Google duke it out for people who are happy with tablets that do Angry Birds and Facebook, because you're right - there's no room for Windows tablets there. Shipping yards, UPS drivers, lawyers, and graphic designers all represent sizeable niches that Apple doesn't appear to care to target, so a Windows based tablet that runs Windows applications and allows for pen-based input is HP's for the taking.
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Re:Speed
When the iPhone 4 hit 3 million sold the return rate was 1.7% or about 51.000 phones. Clearly the antenna was horrible (!)
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Re:No native code, no Emit
The idea of emulating one current mobile OS inside another current mobile OS is laughably impractical, even if it was technically possible.
Well, there's an Android emulation layer for MeeGo which can run apps unchanged.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/22/openmobile-demos-acl-for-meego-promises-100-compatibility-with/
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Re:Oblig xkcd
Ah geez. Thanks. So I thought the gas engine was basically sitting in the trunk.
I wonder why they decided to do that. Or was it that way all along and they lied?Hmm more info - http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/11/shocker-chevy-says-volts-gas-engine-can-power-the-wheels-its/
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Microsoft's own internal politics killed TabletMicrosoft fosters a very competitive internal culture. Competition is not always good, as high level execs refuse to cooperate with each other, disregarding any potential benefits for the company. Here is one reference:
Dick's claim [is] that Tablet PC was doomed because the Office team refused to make a version of Office designed around stylus input
And this is the original article from NYT: Microsoft’s Creative Destruction
:When we were building the tablet PC in 2001, the vice president in charge of Office at the time decided he didn’t like the concept. The tablet required a stylus, and he much preferred keyboards to pens and thought our efforts doomed. To guarantee they were, he refused to modify the popular Office applications to work properly with the tablet. So if you wanted to enter a number into a spreadsheet or correct a word in an e-mail message, you had to write it in a special pop-up box, which then transferred the information to Office. Annoying, clumsy and slow.