Elements Archive

  • Sony Ericsson X10 Mini teardown reveals densely packed, tiny hardware

    Sony Ericsson X10 Mini teardown reveals densely packed, tiny hardware

    Posted on June 22, 2010 | No Comments
    The crew at iFixit were jonesing for something to disassemble recently, and Sony Ericsson's X10 Mini seems to have been the nearest thing they could lay hand and screwdriver upon. We'll admit HTC has us kind of spoiled with the colorful interiors of its phones, so we were a little underwhelmed by the demureness of the X10 Mini. Everything is packed into the utilitarian logic board, and although you get to decouple the screen and antenna assembly, it's still mostly a thick slab of highly integrated technology. Still, if you want to see a Qualcomm MSM7227 all naked and exposed to the elements, this is your chance. The source link contains all the intimate photography you could wish for.

    Sony Ericsson X10 Mini teardown reveals densely packed, tiny hardware originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Hitachi working on cheaper, higher quality IPS touchscreens for cellphones

    Hitachi working on cheaper, higher quality IPS touchscreens for cellphones

    Posted on June 1, 2010 | No Comments
    In case you haven't heard, IPS panels are making inroads into the lucrative mobile market this year, and Hitachi's been working behind the scenes on something that should keep that momentum going. In the mainstream, touchscreen IPS displays are currently only available on Apple's iPad (and expected to show up in its next-gen iPhone), but should Hitachi's new production technique pan out, we might be seeing this screen tech in much more affordable devices as well. The company has fiddled with the arrangement of the touchscreen elements inside the panel, which it argues has made them cheaper and easier to produce and replace. All good news, but these things do take a while to filter through into reality, until which time you might wanna sate yourself with the latest desktop IPS displays, those ain't too shabby or expensive either.

    Hitachi working on cheaper, higher quality IPS touchscreens for cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • HP developing “next-gen” wristwatch for the military

    HP developing “next-gen” wristwatch for the military

    Posted on May 21, 2010 | No Comments
    Printed circuitry on plastic isn't very new, but what is interesting is that HP is commoditizing it and creating wristwatches using display elements and chips etched right onto a roll of soft plastic. The printed faces can also contain solar cells to power the watch.
    HP Labs has been developing a process to "print" the plastic display components for 10 years. The company originally intended to use the technology in portable memory drives, but creating larger screens out of plastic turned out to be a more economical and feasible venture, Taussig said.

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  • HP releases new Pavilion notebooks

    HP releases new Pavilion notebooks

    Posted on May 4, 2010 | No Comments
    If there’s anything better than consumer grade sub-$800 notebooks, God kept it for himself. HP just announced the dm4, dv5, dv6, and dv7 notebooks. All are running the latest processors and the dm4 and dv7 support discrete graphics. The dv6 is a touchscreen laptop, which is great for people who like to touch their screens. Not [...]

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  • Apple Patents The Invisible Button

    Apple Patents The Invisible Button

    Posted on April 29, 2010 | No Comments
    One of Apple's famous minimalist design principles is to get rid of buttons whenever possible. With touchscreen devices like the iPhone and iPad, almost all of the buttons appear when needed on the screen. But what about Macbooks with aluminum casings? A new patent application titled "Disappearing Button or Slider" shows that Apple is at least thinking about how to bring elements of touch computing to all devices by replacing buttons and other controls with capacitive controls which appear only when needed. The patent describes a way to create backlit micro-perforated holes on the aluminum casing of a MacBook or other device which could be used for buttons on the lid when the laptop is closed or below the keyboard when it is open. The buttons could serve as simple displays for WiFi signal or battery strength, control playlists and volume for iTunes songs or movies, or even replace the trackpad.

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  • Help Key: Everything you need to know about the iPad

    Help Key: Everything you need to know about the iPad

    Posted on April 3, 2010 | No Comments
    When will I be able to get one? If you hit the stores, I suspect your local Apple store may have some in stock. This isn’t iPhone level hysteria. If you order one now on-line, though, you won’t get one via UPS until April 12. If I go today, will I still be able to get one? Call [...]

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  • New technology heats up cell phones when callers get agitated

    New technology heats up cell phones when callers get agitated

    Posted on March 11, 2010 | No Comments
    I can't think of too many use cases for this, but they did it: A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo (Japan's MIT if you will) has developed a technology that makes it possible to "physically" convey emotions from cell phone to cell phone. The key elements of the technology are a sensor and a Peltier device that's attached to the back of the phones. Read the rest on CrunchGear.

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  • SPIDERSS For Android: Browser, RSS Reader And Social Network Update Aggregator In One

    SPIDERSS For Android: Browser, RSS Reader And Social Network Update Aggregator In One

    Posted on March 8, 2010 | No Comments
    Tokyo-based jig.jp has been developing mobile browsers since 2003, claiming its "jig browser (which was downloaded over 4 million times so far) is the world’s first Java-based browser that made it possible to view PC sites on cell phones. And now the company has released an ambitious Android app called SPIDERSS, which combines a browser with an RSS reader and an aggregator for social network updates. Available in English and Japanese, the free app's main selling point is that all elements are accessible from a single screen: You can either choose to directly type in a URL or search term in the top bar (to then open a full browser window), check your Facebook newsfeed and Twitter timeline in the "Application Deck" under that or scroll through your RSS feeds in the bottom part. All feeds and web pages can be easily shared by SMS, Email, Twitter or Facebook with the push of a button. Read the rest on TechCrunch.

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  • booq Boa skin XS for iPad

    booq Boa skin XS for iPad

    Posted on March 4, 2010 | No Comments
    While you're waiting for your iPad you can stock up on all the new accouterments you're going to need. Like the new Boa Skin XS from booq! "Designed specifically for the iPad, Boa skin XS gives today’s creative professional stylish options to protect their new gear."

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  • CrunchDeals: 40% off all ScottEVest Goodness

    CrunchDeals: 40% off all ScottEVest Goodness

    Posted on February 24, 2010 | No Comments
    Our best buddy, Scott, he of ScottEVest, just started its massive 40%-off sale. They have plenty of great stuff including the Quantum and Evolution jackets and my favorite, the cotton hoodie.

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  • If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present

    If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present

    Posted on February 9, 2010 | No Comments
    Google has a problem. Despite having their hands in just about everything online, they’ve never been able to tackle what is a key part of the fabric of the web: social. Yes, they have Orkut and OpenSocial, but no one actually uses them. Okay, some people use them, but not in the meaningful social ways that people use Facebook or even Twitter. Today, Google may have just solved their social problem. Google Buzz is easily the company’s boldest attempt yet to build a social network. Imagine taking elements of Twitter, Yammer, Foursquare, Yelp, and other social services, and shoving them together into one package. Now imagine covering that package in a layer that looks a lot like FriendFeed. Now imagine shoving that package inside of Gmail. That’s Buzz. If Google Wave is the future, Google Buzz is the present.

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  • The ITG xpPhone gets officially priced

    The ITG xpPhone gets officially priced

    Posted on January 18, 2010 | No Comments
    Screen shot 2010-01-18 at [ January 18 ] 11.16.25 AM Its only been around 8 months since the xpPhone -- a phone which, as the name implies, runs Windows XP -- made its online debut, but its already caused quite the rift between the mega-geeks. One camp seems to think its the coolest thing since air-conditioned underpants; the other seems to think it's a big pile of nonsense. Throughout all of this dweeby disputing, one important item remained a mystery: the price. Mystery solved after the jump.

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  • Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board

    Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board

    Posted on December 14, 2009 | No Comments
    digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Engadget_Exclusive_first_Google_Phone_Nexus_One_photos'; Well here you have it folks, honest-to-goodness pics of the Google Phone... AKA, the Nexus One. As you can see by the photos, the design of the device is largely similar to those we've seen, but the graphic on back is slightly different, and that piece of tape is covering a QR code (how very Google of them). Just like we've heard before, the updated OS features new 3D elements to the app tray, as well as an extended amount of homescreens, though it looks like the lock screen / mute is the same as in Android 2.0.1. Additionally, there's now a new grid icon at the bottom of the homescreen, which when pressed brings up a webOS card-style preview of all homescreen pages -- which raises some interesting possibilities. Apparently there's been a new software update for the device pushed tonight, and sure enough the phone is identified as the Nexus One on the system info page. Quite clearly this device is running on T-Mobile, and is also using WiFi, so there's two other questions you've got answers to. The phone also appears to come loaded up with Google Navigation (a bit of a no-brainer) and the brand-spanking-new Google Goggles. Hardware wise, the Nexus does look incredibly thin and sleek, and while there's not a slew of buttons (those four up front are clearly touch sensitive), there is a dedicated volume rocker along the side. Oh, and note this... no HTC logo anywhere to be found. We'll update the post as / if we get more info, but for now, feast your eyes on the gallery below!

    Update: One item of interest. In the packaging there's a quick start guide which points users to a "questions" page at google.com/phone/support. The page is a dead end right now, but it certainly gets an eyebrow raise from us. If there is a real Google Phone in the offing, that seems a likely landing page for support.

    [Thanks, RD]

    Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Sharp to release world’s most efficient solar cell

    Sharp to release world’s most efficient solar cell

    Posted on October 22, 2009 | No Comments
    Sharp Japan announced today it has developed a solar cell with the world's highest conversion efficiency [press release in English]. The new product features an conversion efficiency of 35.8%, while Sharp only achieved 31.5% with the previous model. The latest model is a compound solar cell, in which two or more elements form photo-absorption layers (see the graphic below).

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