Technology Guru

Jan 31, 2011

FORD’S VERTREK CONCEPT PREVIEWS NEXT ESCAPE

Dubbed Vertrek, the small crossover utility vehicle is based on Ford’s European kinetic design language, although the automaker says it offers the off road capability, cargo space and trailer towing features necessary for buyers in the United States. Hit read more for details and videos!

Ambidextrous, capacitive, programmable, open source, five simultaneous touch inputs. The Misa Digital Kitara has quite the laundry list of goodies to boast about. The first thing that strikes you about this guitar-shaped synthesizer is its weight distribution -- it's no heavier than a good electric guitar, but a lot more of that weight is contained within its neck -- and the second will inevitably be its lightning-quick response to touch. Misa tells us latency is less than 5 milliseconds and it felt like it. Hit read more for details.

We found this multifaceted gizmo at CES that LG is dubbing the Scanner Mouse. It does exactly what you think -- works as a mouse and scanner. You might recall something similar from back in the day, but LG is looking to commercialize the idea. The bottom of the rodent has a clear (glass or plastic sheet, we're not sure) packed with five LEDs for the camera to see the image being reflected off of the mirror inside. To kickstart the scanning process on a Widows or Mac machine, you simply press the scan button and huzzah -- the software will activate and display the area the scanner is hovering over. Hit read more for details and a video.

According toPocketnow's sources, the first press images of the Nokia X7 are legitimate, and the AT&T branding isn't by accident. Purportedly, the Symbian^3-based phone will be hitting shops as early as this month, bringing along an eight megapixel camera (with dual-flash), four speaker grilles (two of which have drivers underneath) and a ClearBlack display.

Update: Our dreams have been dashed by Pocketnow, who says its original source was out of date -- AT&T had apparently planned to stock the X7 under the name "Nokia Journey" in time for a Mobile World Congress launch, but those plans have reportedly been canceled by AT&T itself.

RIM's mythical BlackBerry Storm 3 is one of those products that shows up every few months with just enough new information to have you believing that it's real and it's eventually coming before slithering back into the night, going totally radio-silent for another month or two. We've no doubt that the phone is real at this point, but considering the lukewarm reception the Storm 2 got, we're surprised RIM hasn't pushed harder to get the updated device to market -- only thing we can figure is that the carrier partners keep sending it back for tweaks. Speaking of tweaks, BGR says that we can expect a phone with a 1.2GHz processor (same as the alleged Torch 2) along with a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, dual-band WiFi with UMA support, mobile hotspot capability, and BlackBerry OS 6.1. Word has it there will be at least two versions released around the globe -- codenamed Monaca and Monza -- and it's on track for a September release. That's all well and good, though these specs aren't going to blow anyone away as we approach Q4 '11.

2012 CHEVROLET SONIC HATCHBACK MAKES WORLD DEBUT

The Sonic hatchback is aimed primarily at European and Asian markets, although it will go on sale in North America with a Sonic badge. A United States and Canada-oriented Sonic sedan will debut at a North American auto show later this season. Hit read more for details.

Motorola said its fantastical modular dual-core smartphone the Atrix 4G would appear in the first quarter of the year -- and it's looking like the device will be as late in that first quarter as can be managed without completely bumming us out. Alleged AT&T internal documents found their way into the hands of Android Central, which specify a March 1st launch date for the handset, as well as pointing out pentaband radio frequencies which might help it roam globally but probably won't play nice with T-Mobile data. And what, pray tell, is the Atrix 4G?

Google's been teasing cloud-based music features in Android since its I/O conference last year, and the recent leak of a revamped first-party Music app suggests that the plans haven't evaporated into thin air. Here's the latest tidbit: GizmoFusion claims that this screen shot comes from a device running Gingerbread, clearly showing "Music" as one of the accounts configured in Android's settings, which suggests that the system will be pretty deeply-integrated to sync your tracks just as it would your Twitter updates, your Facebook friends, or your calendar entries. Note that we don't have any new evidence beyond this one shot -- and we need to take GizmoFusion's word that this is a Gingerbread device -- but we're wondering if maybe this isn't one of the new features in that Android 2.4 build we've been hearing a lot about lately.

2012 MERCEDES-BENZ C-CLASS SEDAN

Mercedes-Benz has officially unveiled its 2012 C-Class Sedan. In addition to new styling tweaks, the new model year brings a more fuel-efficient variant to the United States market. Hit read more for details.

Heres some information on the Blackberry Curve Apollo! Its at the Lower-mid end of the lineup with decent specs and will be aggressively priced. Not exactly the description which dreams are made of, but that's the wordingBGR is using to describe its otherleakedBlackBerry device today (Dakota being the other). A 480 x 360 resolution screen of unknown size, 800MGhz Tavor MG-1 CPU, 512MB RAM, a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording, 1050 mAh battery, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, GPS, and BlackBerry OS 6.1 to put everything in check. It all serves quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE and tri-band UMTS / HSPA 7.2Mbps. The keyboard, we'd assume, is pretty darn snappy. The price and release date, should this apparent leak come to fruition, is still unknown.

Toyota's not too pleased with the general scarcity of rare earth minerals and China's near-monopolisticgrip on the world's supply, so it's decided to act before it's too late. A company spokesman has been cited as saying the Prius maker is hard at work on a new electric motor design that should dramatically reduce (though seemingly not eliminate) the need for rare earths in its production. Aside from being made of less price-volatile materials, the new electric ticker is expected to be generally cheaper to manufacture. Further details aren't yet available, but we hope this turns into a classic case of necessity breeding innovation -- that Prius C concept deserves a set of internals that can keep up with its bodacious exterior.

Galaxy S owners will already be familiar with the awesome power of overlaying text on a live view of their phone's camera feed, but now their iPhone counterparts get to join in the fun as well. MegaReader, an e-reading app that's survived the cutthroat App Store waters long enough to reach version 2.1, has just added a "Heads Up Display" feature to its list of attributes. Its function is to make your iPhone appear transparent, which is achieved by relaying camera images of what's behind the phone to its front. Hit read more for a video.

SPB Nokia to Android migration tool!

For all those who have shifted from Nokia to Android from any manufacturer and are finding is hard to shift your data from your old device to the new one, this is the easy to use software for you. SPB felt the trend of 2011-2012 and now offers an instrument for migration from Windows Mobile and Symbian (S60 3rd Edition, 5th Edition and above including Symbian^3) to Android phones (starting with 2.1).

How does it work? Visit www.migratetoandroid.com to choose your current phone and the new one. Then you will be offered to download an app ($9.95) to your Android model and you will be able to transfer your calls list, contacts, messages and other info onto your new model. It can be done with the help of a memory card or online. In the second case you will require Internet access for both devices with all data encrypted without any prior registration. Hit read more for details.

Other brands may view networked fridges as the key to going green, but it seems Samsung is more interested in letting users access Pandora or tweet while grabbing a snack. At least that's the impression we got from its staff while playing with the RF3289 fridge at CES, which the brand touts is the first of its kind to feature integrated WiFi. To be fair the unit provides a few pragmatic features too like the ability to view Google calendars, check the weather, download recipes from Epicurious, or leave digital notes -- though we'd have been more impressed by functions such as remote temperature adjustment or food spoilage alerts. We also found that the stainless steel exterior made reading the 8-inch LCD touchscreen screen difficult from more than a few feet away. Otherwise, further details on the software and definite pricing are nonexistent at this point, but we do know the appliance will be available to cutting-edge Canadians sometime in May.

MultiTouch Ltd has been at this IR-based multitouch thing since 2007 and it's hit CES in force this week. Sure, the current 46-inch model requires 12 inches of depth -- in order to provide sufficient space for the infrared cameras embedded in its back to capture the whole surface -- but having unlimited touch inputs is always a wildly impressive sight. We put one of the displays to the test by exploiting a nearby crowd and slapping down a good 40+ fingers on it, all of which were recognized. Read on for details, pricing and a video.

General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video)

The streets won't be wide enough for vehicles in the future, parking garages tall enough, nor oil wells deep enough. We need something different, and GM thinks that something is the EN-V. Even though it still isn't the future we just got a drive in one, so read on for our impressions and video of the electric , self-parking wonder.

2012 MERCEDES-BENZ SLK-CLASS

The SLK will be offered with a pair of engine choices. At the top of the heap is a 304-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 in the SLK350 that helps the roadster scoot to 60 mph in just 5.4 seconds with its standard automatic transmission. The German automaker says that this combination is capable of a 23 mpg combined fuel consumption figure. Hit read more for details and pictures.

Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group cites "engineers who are working on hardware" for Apple's latest project in asserting what that project actually is: NFC capabilities are apparently being built into the next generation of iPhone and iPad devices. Contactless payments via NFC have been steadily building up in hype and adoption recently -- at least in the western hemisphere, the stuff is commonplace in Japan -- and Doherty predicts Apple will make its move into the field with some new hardware and an accompanying "revamp" of iTunes. Hit read more for details.

You'll still need to have that Windows PC acting as an intermediary, but folks looking to use Google'sCloud Print service now at least have considerably more devices at their disposal to print documents from. Following up its roll-out to Chrome OS netbooks last month, Google has now announced that it's begun rolling the service out to its mobile Google Docs and Gmail sites, which you'll be able to use to print documents from most mobile devices that supports HTML5 -- those running Android 2.1+ or iOS 3+, for instance. What's more, while you will still need that Windows PC connected to your printer for the time being, Google now notes that both Mac and Linux support are "coming soon."

HTC FLYER TABLET SPECS LEAKED, 7-INCH AND 10-INCH MODELS ON TRACK FOR 2011

The HTC Flyer has been quite the talk of the internet lately and now its specs have been leaked and let’s just say this is going to be one very impressive device. You can check out the full comprehensive spec sheet after the break – prepare to be wowed.

GOOGLE NEXUS S WHITE LEAKED

It appears that the BestBoyZ are at it again. Over in Germany there’s been a leak of a supposed white-backed Samsung Nexus S. This Google phone has been the firecracker of the past few weeks as far as speed and overall fun factor go here in the states, now it’s in white? Man, it’s like they’re in there own little world, these Google phones. Hit read more for more pictures.

How aggressive can NVIDIA get? That's the question puzzling our brainboxes right now as we gaze upon the complete version of the slide that let us know about a potential Tegra 2 3D chip over the weekend. It's not every day you hear of a 1.5GHz quad-core mobile SOC, but our discovery of corroborating evidence for the T25 module sitting alongside it makes us more willing to credit the possibility of a Blu-ray-crunching, 13,800 MIPS-capable, multicore Cortex-A9 Tegra 3. Moreover, the roadmap of production samples in Q4 of 2010 fits perfectly with NVIDIA's claim that Tegra 3 was "almost done" in September of that year. The ULP designation on this listing stands for Ultra Low Power in NVIDIA parlance, which would indicate an aggressively tuned power management system -- the only way we can envision a quad-core anything operating within a tablet. Fall 2011 is when we should know for sure.

Future of Mobile Gadgets - When Gadgets Talk in Their Sleep

Imagine a world where your gadgets can talk to each other and exchange information to benefit their owners. Maybe you are selling something and someone walks by who wants to buy it for example. Their are infinit possibilities for such a technology that todays gadgets have the power to implement. Nintendo has taken a step in that direction but even if it fails to deliver, someone somewhere (Apple?) will make this software seamless for end users and will open a whole new ball game in the mobile sphere! Hit read more for details.

Behold world, the first Dual-Core smartphone from a major manufacturer is set free into the wild! Yep, LG's not only stolen a march on Motorola in introducing the world's first dual-core smartphone, it's also about to beat Apple to the white handset punch as well. The 1080p-recording, Tegra 2-wielding Optimus 2X is now available in its home market of South Korea and, if LG stays true to its roadmap, should be filtering through into Europe before this month is out. We don't know if its white variant will ever escape the clutches of Korea (and we sure hope it does), but it should be making its bodacious debut over there in February.

In 2008 Rolls-Royce bucked trends when it reported the most sales ever in a single year of 1,212 cars. Then, in 2009 sales dropped to just 1,002 cars before climbing dramatically by 171 percent to 2,711 cars sold during 2010 to easily cement the year as the best-ever for the company in its seven year history since renaming itself from Rolls-Royce Motors. Hit read more for details.

Sammy seems to be particularly excited about this one, demonstrating on video that it's shatter-proof by bashing it repeatedly with a sledgehammer -- compare that to the inevitably disastrous consequences of dropping an iPhone onto concrete, and they've already won us over. Although the company still has some manufacturing challenges to overcome, commercial interest seems to be strong and they'll eventually be on the market (though not in 2011, sadly). Hit read more for details.

Ah, the connected home... the ultimate Jetsonian fantasy that refuses to come true. LG's doing its best to change that with its Thinq lineup of connected appliances announced and demonstrated for the first time here in Las Vegas. The details of connectivity and interoperability are scarce but we do know that the appliances support both WiFi and ZigBee connectivity in order to communicate with each other, your in-home smart meter, and with smartphones when outside of the home. So far, LG has announced four Thinq devices including a vacuum, fridge, oven, and washer and dryer pair. That's a pretty strong foundation to build from especially if your home is already equipped with ZigBee devices like automated light switches, window controllers, and locks. Hit read more for details and the video!

Comprehensive Review and Hands on of Archos 7 Home Tablet in Pakistan (Video)

Overview

Tablets have been a real hit this year at Consumer Electronic Show 2011 in Las Vegas as we are sure our regular readers already know with over 30 devices launched running Android and Windows 7 mostly. Tablets have been around since ages but for a long time they were a niche option since they were slow and not very finger friendly. Basically everyone in the early days tried to cram up a RAM heavy Windows into a less than top notch performance hardware. Since the advent of high processing speed for mobile devices came along, Apple's Steve Jobs, just like before, was the first to keep his finger on the market's pulse and released a device that would later revolutionize and revitalize the whole category. This device of course is the iPad.

You didn't think we were done with tablets at CES just yet, did you? This latest offering comes courtesy of Azpen, which is actually introducing two variations on a dual-boot Windows 7 / Android tablet: one with a 16:9, 10.1-inch screen, and one with a 4:3, 9.7-inch display. Both are otherwise identical, however, and pack an Atom N455 processor, a capacitive display, "up to" 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, a microSD card slot, two USB ports, and Android 2.2 alongside Windows 7 (though the early demo unit on display was only running Android 1.6). Unfortunately, that dual-boot functionality also leaves these demanding quite a premium over your run of the mill Android tablet -- look for them each to set you back $500 when they launch in a few weeks.

Another look at Motorola Atrix 4G (Video)

Check out another video we would like to show you of the Atrix 4G we previewed earlier!

The Motorola Xoom is a huge product this year for two reasons: it's a major first tablet from a major Android manufacturer, and it's the flagship device for Honeycomb, an OS that's been announced for dozens of other tablets here at the show, but not actually shown running on any of them. A 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 will power this 10.1-incher, while 4G connectivity will be made available as an update in Q2 following a Q1 launch. Other specs include a 1280 x 800 resolution, 5 megapixel camera, 720p video recording and 1080p video playback, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and finally, a healthy 32GB of onboard storage. The battery is rated to be capable of supporting 10 hours of video. Hit read more for details.

The global economy may still be on some rocky ground, but a dramatic increase in demand for luxury vehicles in the United States and China has BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi factories running at full capacity. In fact, all three German automakers will be expanding their operations in 2011. Hit read more for details.

Toyota Entune in-car infotainment system (video)

Toyota Entune infotainment system hands-on

Toyota's still the biggest auto manufacturer in the world, handily trumping GM and Ford, and with the Prius celebrating its 10 year anniversary it's clear the company can certainly lead the industry when it wants to. Not so much with advanced infotainment and smartphone integration. There the company has been lagging behind the competition, Ford's SYNC and the like, but now it's making a big step forward with Entune, and it chose this year's CES to do it. Hit read more for details and a video!

Hanvon is aiming to fill the chasm between monochromatic e-readers and color LCD-based tablets at CES this year with its all-new color e-reader. It features the famed 9.7-inch color E Ink panel, the first of its kind, and offers the rather spectacular resolution of 1200 x 1600. We managed to spend a few precious moments with a prototype unit and were impressed by the solid and thin construction and the excellent viewing angles on offer. Hit read more for details and a video!

Say hello to Guangzhou Taiji Electronics and their ArtPro Nail Printer line. You put a couple of white base coats on, stick your hand inside, align the desired image to your nail, and hit print -- and an inkjet head (we saw a Lenovo cartridge inside) goes to work. A few seconds later, you're ready to seal the deal with clearcoat. A simple idea, well-executed and highly satisfying. Video of our experience inside the future of the beauty industry after the jump.

iOS 4.3 beta arrives for devs, brings AirPlay video support to apps, personal hotspot and customizable iPad side switch

We'd been disappointed to find that iOS 4.2 only brought AirPlay video support to built-in Apple appson the iPhone and iPad, but it looks like that's changing soon -- Apple just posted up the first iOS 4.3 beta, which allows devs to send video from apps or websites to an Apple TV. There's also a new beta of the Apple TV software for testing it out -- it doesn't have any version notes, so we don't know if it offers any additional features as well. Hit read more for details.

We’ve seen and heard a lot about hybrid and electrified vehicles coming from the 2011 North American International Auto Show, but I doubt anyone expected to hear news regarding the possibility of a “Prius-powered” pickup truck to be included in the mix.

But alas, it was…thanks to the ever curious Mike Levine of Pickuptrucks, speaking to Bob Carter, group VP and general manager of the Toyota division of Toyota Motor Sales USA. In fact, Carter directly addressed the possibility of yet another Prius variant to join the rapidly expanding family of hybrid vehicles coming from Toyota. Hit read more for details.

Honda is short on powertrain details, but the automaker said that “most” Civics will gain its Eco Assist system, which can modify shift points and throttle sensitivity to promote greener driving. Honda currently offers its Eco Assist buttons on its CR-Z and Insight hybrid models, but the Civic will be its first gasoline offering with the function. Hit read more for details and pictures of the two cars.

It was inevitable, the blu-ray player has found its way into your car! Audiovox is apparently finally ready to offer one for sale with its AVDBR1, seen here skulking about the halls of CES. Due in the spring with an MSRP of $349.99, it can be installed under the seat or in a storage compartment and is even BD-Live compatible with optional WiFi upgrade, available after a firmware update arrives later this year. Hit read more for details.

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