Is there room on the Ultrabook wagon for two new models from Samsung? There’s a 13-incher and a 14-incher, which both come under its Series 5 branding, but at first glance only the smaller model might deserve its seat: it has the requisite Sandy Bridge processor and an acceptable thickness (14.9mm), but it adds 500GB of HDD storage on top of a 16GB SSD, which brings its weight right up to the 1.4kg limit. Meanwhile, the 14-inch variant only just scrapes through the 21mm thickness criterion, but its 1.8kg weight seems well overboard. We can’t wait to see what happens when Intel inspects its ticket.

Samsung outs two new Series 5 laptops in Korea, claims they’re Ultrabooks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Color us a yellow shade of mendacious, but if we designed something that works 99.999999999997 percent of the time, we’d probably round off and give ourselves a big ol’ 100 percent A+. We’d probably throw in a smiley faced sticker, too. Computer scientist Holger Hermanns, however, is a much more honest man, which is why he’s willing to admit that his new wireless bike brake system is susceptible to outright failure on about three out of every trillion occasions. Hermanns’ concept bike, pictured above, may look pretty standard at first glance, but take a closer look at the right handlebar. There, you’ll find a rubber grip with a pressure sensor nestled inside. Whenever a rider squeezes this grip, that blue plastic box sitting next to it will send out a signal to a receiver, attached to the bike’s fork. From there, the message will be sent on to an actuator that converts the signal into mechanical energy, and activates the brake. Best of all, this entire process happens will take just 250 milliseconds of your life. No wires, no brakes, no mind control. Hermanns and his colleagues at Saarland University are now working on improving their system’s traction and are still looking for engineers to turn their concept into a commercial reality, but you can wheel past the break for more information, in the full PR.

Continue reading Wireless bike brake system has the highest GPA ever

Wireless bike brake system has the highest GPA ever originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So there was no iPhone 5. But there will be a new iPhone 4S, which Apple announced Tuesday. And yes, it looks physically just like the iPhone 4, which might be disappointing for some, but there are several useful new features, most of them not visible at first glance. While there was no big reveal, no “one more thing,” it’s important to remember that these incremental upgrades could add up to a lot.

I say “could” because we didn’t get to play with the iPhone 4S. But what CEO Tim Cook and others showed the press during the 95-minute presentation this morning is very symbolic of what Apple is trying to do to keep standing out: pay excruciatingly close attention to the little things, which help make a product great.

The iPhone 4 is a great phone–and people continue to buy it in droves more than a year later–so it’s not like Apple had to go back to the drawing board or do a major overhaul. So what they did do to the new iPhone 4S was largely internal and incremental: a faster processor (the A5 chip, which is Apple-designed and already in use in the iPad 2), an improved camera (up to 8 megapixels from 5, wider aperture, better sensor for low-light photos, 1080p video recording, video image stabilization), updated software (the previously announced iOS 5, iCloud, iTunes Match), the ability to run on both GSM and CDMA networks, a new U.S. carrier (Sprint), redesigned antenna technology, aggressive pricing on older model iPhones (3GS now free on contract, iPhone 4 now ) and Siri, the personal assistant app. All of it is relatively minor, but at the same time all of it adds up to features that are designed to make the smartphone faster, its battery last longer with quicker downloads, uploads and streaming. And overall, the improvements are designed to make the iPhone 4S easier to use, which is what most people want from a smartphone anyway.

Siri got a lot of “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd Tuesday. It may not be useful to everyone–it seems largely designed for situations where you can’t look at or pick up your iPhone, like driving. You can ask (in a phrase humans would use)”What time is it in Philadelphia right now?”, “What will the weather be like when I get there?”, respond and send text messages, make calendar appointments, search for restaurants (with Yelp integration), look up something online, set reminders and more. In other words, it’s designed to help you get stuff done.

Siri is a great example of Apple doing something that other hardware makers it competes with are not. Siri isn’t something you need any technical know how to use or understand and it’s seamlessly integrated with the entire device. (Microsoft and Android have voice assistance technology, but don’t go this far in integration.) It’s not even a new technology, but Apple sunk resources into the Siri acquisition to make it an integral function of this and probably future iPhones. Like iTunes Match and AirPlay, they’re not sexy, they’re relatively small but useful features that are supposed to quietly just work.

Apple doesn’t jump on every new technology that comes along (Blu-ray, 4G, NFC, etc.). That’s not how it competes, so it’s not going to make a huge splash with every single new announcement every year. If you think about what Cook emphasized during his introduction Tuesday, you’ll see the things that Apple knows set it apart from other device makers that can slap together hardware that looks really good: Apple’s retail stores, customer satisfaction ratings, the overall iOS ecosystem and the tight integration of devices and software. It’s not super juicy stuff talking about how many new stores you’ve opened or how you redesigned the phone’s antenna instead of new design or the extreme thinness and lightness of a phone. But those small, sometimes unnoticed advances are the ones matter when it comes to acquiring–and keeping–customers.

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At first glance, the N-Control Avenger looks like the fevered dream of a quirky lunatic, destined for fame and failure as a legendary crapgadget. When one showed up on our doorstep, we were admittedly skeptical. Could a lever- and pulley-laden Xbox 360 controller clamshell really give us a competitive edge? Wouldn’t all the extra bits and pieces only result in a cumbersome mess? Is this doodad really worth the asking price? We went hands-on to find out, and boy howdy, were we surprised.

Continue reading N-Control Avenger Xbox 360 attachment makes it look complicated, we go hands-on (video)

N-Control Avenger Xbox 360 attachment makes it look complicated, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Ipod and mp3 player are the new hot way to listen to music and persons are searching for methods to put the most up-to-date music on those players. Different music sources can comprise pulling music off of compact discs that you previously have possession of or finding sources of digital music that you can add. Music download sites can be an superb technique to come across that music but there are so many of them it can be difficult to figure out which are best for you.

At first glance it may be difficult to tell what the difference is between the music download sites. There are a few initial differences beyond merely whether you have to pay for your music or whether you can get it for free of charge. One core disparity is that some sites need you to download particular software. This is more frequent with free sites, but there are some compensated sites which also call for you to download special programs onto your computer.

Consider that every time you download programs or files to your computer there is a hazard that you are introducing a virus or other unwelcome program at the same time. You should also know that many of these programs may involve ordinary updates to be downloaded and installed as well. Many persons do not have a trouble with that in spite of this if you are a person who does not have much computer knowledge you may want to make use of a website that is more customer-friendly.

There are a variety of free of charge sites available at present that have replaced some of the more infamous at no cost sites of the past. There are some that compel you to download software which allowed users to trade music between their machines. However, users reported a massive amount of viruses that were connected with the files that were being traded. Songs were also difficult to discover sometimes since people saved them under titles other than their real one. These free of charge sites as a rule did not give you right of entry to the licenses for the songs, which are an important part of a digital file. This was because many of the songs were being downloaded dishonestly.

Paid sites can be good in that they can have less viruses on them. The chief downside to this is that they are paid. If you are a person who is not pleased about the idea of shopping online, these sites may not be good for you to make use of. Ways to counteract this are to choose sites which allow you to use prepaid gift cards. These cards are existing for quite a few of the leading music download sites.

Paid sites all deliver in effectively the same way whether or not you have to download software. You explore the songs from a database that every website has. Once you have located the songs you want, you can oftentimes preview them to make sure that it is in fact the song you are searching for. There may be quite a lot of versions of each song, so it pays to pay attention to the preview. Once you have chosen the song or songs you want you then you carry on to the checkout where you pay for the songs and then download them to your computer.

You may want to know a bit more about prepaid cards. These can be purchased at many convenience and music stores and come in a number of different set balances. The total you procure will of course depend on how much music you think you will want to download. Each has a PIN and serial number that is used at the checkout and the total spent is deducted from your card. One benefit is that you can’t expend more than you intend to and you have already paid in advance so there are no surprises. The second is that no individual financial information is given out which many people like.

There are some negatives that you will find when using a prepaid card. You will need to procure a new card each time you have used up the balance, since they are not rechargeable. Also, once activated you have a certain total of time to run through the money or else the card will terminate. Although many stores sell these cards it may be difficult to discover one near you, making them a bit more inopportune to utilize. And you may be left with a very low balance that is not enough to use to pay for another song. You need to then make a decision if you will use another payment method or pay for another card. You will need to make this choice before the card expires, usually between thirty and sixty days after it is activated.

When you are purchasing music from an online website, you should make sure that you also obtain the licenses to the songs. This is important since some music devices will not allow you to put music on them if the license is not there. A license is the authorized permission you have to use the songs in several ways. These can include making a CD of music or putting the music on a digital player such as an mp3 player or a phone with an mp3 player built in. Licenses should be saved on a independent disc or backed up in some way to keep them from being lost. Once you have the license you can often then download the music a set number of times before you need to repurchase the license.

Music download sites can be an first-rate way to pick particular music by a particular artist without purchasing an total album. They are fantastic methods to fill up your music players and create compact discs filled of custom music mixes. By learning more about them you can find the finest one for you and begin downloading now.

Now you can find out about free movie downloads and also free legal movie downloads right this moment via the Internet.

Beats By Dr Dre, Heartbeats by Lady Gaga or JustBeats? Yep, we’re talking about earphones with celebrity endorsements. Given that Dr Dre joined up with Monster Beats in 2008, there has been a flutter of performers putting their name on top of headphones. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Sean Diddy Combs are the three that have followed in the Dr Dre footsteps. At first glance these products all look surprisingly distinct from each other. Whatever we have found is while the design is as unique as the performer, Monster has included three main ingredients into each of their headphones that aid their name and good reputation as the most effective headphones you are able to purchase.

1. Sound Quality
This really is Monster’s first and foremost essential feature for their headphones. It’s also the most debatable among consumer reviews. Quite a few mention they locate little distinction in sound quality than other makers that do not contain the well-known star on the cover. Though others say they’ve in no way noticed anything better, and can’t picture possibly going back to the cheap ear buds from which they came. As a whole, the scores and reviews happen to be really good. We know that Dr Dre used up a couple of years developing the headphones and technology so the sound came through completely.

2. ControlTalk
If this is actually a term you might be unaware of, it is quite normal. The fact is, it is actually a TradeMark term out of Monster that enables anyone to chat hands-free by using an iphone or operate your ipod with pause, next track, volume etc. This can also work for video chats at the same time. Dr Dre was the very first man in developing this technology as part of his headphones, but just about all 4 have adopted his lead and made it as a part of theirs at the same time. Soon after all, how Dr Dre out-do Lady Gaga?

3. The Fascinating Thing
Let’s not pretend that is the actual selling point in these headphones. Who desires to purchase a dull pair of headphones from the major brand with excellent sound and quality? Not if you can purchase the most trendy headphones on the market and look the same as the best musician and performer! That describes a lot more regarding why these headphones, do not run cheap. Don’t overlook, we’ve already stated how clean the audio comes through, their resilience and trendy capabilities like ControlTalk. But it is the “cool factor” that is awarded with time consistently. Knowing this, Monster made a intelligent move by getting big companies to back them up.

Although this 4 of-a-kind, Dr Dre, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber, may possibly seem like they live on different planets occasionally. Each of them overlap in creating a great couple of earphones. Headsets that play the audio the way the performer designed you to hear them. Headsets with technology integrated that allow you to talk hands-free. And obviously Lady Gaga Heartbeats that are both fashion forward and popular. What more might you ask for when hearing the perfect music?