Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
When it rains it pours — right on the heels of the punishing blow dealt to RealDVD, the money-laden Kaleidescape crowd suffered its own setback at the hands of the law. You just know that the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association) appealed the 2007 ruling that allowed Kaleidescape owners to rip DVDs to their media servers, and yesterday a California Appeals Court overturned that ruling. Next stop — the Santa Clara Superior Court, which could place an injunction on Kaleidescape if the appeal is upheld. It’s not over yet, but we’re prepping the soundboard with ominous music, boos and noisy hand-wringing. Whatever (and whenever) the outcome, we can only hope that Blu-ray’s Managed Copy comes to the scene sooner rather than later and settles this issue for our beloved HD content
Filed under: Home Entertainment
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Kaleidescape gets in line behind RealDVD for rough treatment
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
No matter how fly or flashy modern scanners become, there’s no getting away from their page-by-page assembly line style of operation. Or so we thought. The Ishikawa Komuro Lab at Tokyo University has demonstrated a prototype scanner capable of recording the contents of pages as they turn. Using a laser range projector to estimate page geometry, the camera adjusts for light and movement distortion as necessary and retains faithful copies of the original. At present it’s more a proof of concept for the underlying vision processing unit than a commercial venture, but all it needs is one major manufacturer to pick it up and the paperless revolution can finally get started in earnest.
Filed under: Peripherals
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Book scanning gets a 1,000 fps turbo mode
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
We have no idea who would choose an iPhone app over a real, honest-to-goodness textbook, but if you really want to spend marathon cram sessions hunched over a 3.5-inch display, a company called CourseSmart has just made its entire catalog available for viewing with its eTextbooks app. Certainly, it seems that the company’s selection is nothing to sneeze at — electronic access to over 7,000 titles from 12 publishers — so if you’re already using the service, additional on-the-go access to the books (as well as the handy search, notes, and bookmarks) might prove quite worthwhile. Keep in mind that you’re not actually downloading the books — so your mileage will vary, depending on the quality of your Internet connection. Maybe this device is actually marketed to students who need a helping hand (or, in this case, handheld) during finals? Regardless, this is further evidence that the
electronic textbook market is one to keep an eye on — if only someone could figure out how to do it right. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’d like to get back to
Knife Music. Video after the break.
Continue reading CourseSmart releases eTextbook reader for iPhone
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video
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CourseSmart releases eTextbook reader for iPhone
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
You know, we like to get a little crazy some time. Test the waters. Mix it up. You know, all that hyperbole. At any rate, if you’d like to mix it up with us… we’re broadcasting live on USTREAM right now. Check out the embed after the break — and wish us luck!
Continue reading Engadget Podcast — live on USTREAM… right now!
Engadget Podcast — live on USTREAM… right now! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:23:00 EST. .
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Engadget Podcast — live on USTREAM… right now!
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
We’re not sure why we didn’t hear more about this way back at RIM’s WES conference way back in May, but it was apparently mentioned by VP Antoine Boucher at the time that they’re working on a Bluetooth-enabled watch. Furthermore, it’s said to be more advanced than the models Sony Ericsson has put forth so far, featuring streaming audio (3.5mm jack on the watch, perhaps?) and Twitter / Facebook updates in addition to the usual things like caller ID and text messages. Note that the image floating around today of this thing isn’t real — it’s just a Sony Ericsson MBW-100 with a swapped logo — so it remains to be seen what this magical wrist accessory will look like, assuming it’s real and coming to retail. It seems Boucher also mentioned a high-end Bluetooth headset codenamed “Alpha 1″ that’ll allow you to stream music and get navigation directions through some sort of totally awesome silicone earpiece boasted to possibly be “the best solution on the market.” It’s pretty hard to pique a lot of interest these days with something as vanilla and ubiquitous as a headset, but at any rate, it’s interesting to see the depth of RIM’s apparent commitment to the accessory market right now.
, Wearables
RIM working on Bluetooth watch, other spellbinding accessories? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:16:00 EST. .
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RIM working on Bluetooth watch, other spellbinding accessories?
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
We’re hearing “multiple sources” are now reporting that Apple is most likely planning a
keynote event — possibly for the week of September 7th. There’s also the requisite murmuring that one
Steve Jobs may make an appearance — though of course, there’s also nothing more solid than wishes and fairy dust to back that one up. As far as possible product launches go, well, there have been significant whisperings about upcoming iPod / iTunes developments as of late, including the company’s
reported dealings with major record labels. This would fall in line with Apple’s habit of releasing iPods every fall, and we’ve heard plenty about upcoming iPod touches which boast, among other things — a
camera and microphone.
Daring Fireball has also reported that these bad boys will come in 16, 32 and 64GB varieties running $199, $299, and $399, respectively. In more salacious gossip, there’s the possible
Apple tablet we’ve been hearing about, but there’s no solid word on any products for now. We’ll be watching this one closely, we assure you.
Read - Here it Comes. But what is it, exactly?
– Daring Fireball on Zune HD and new iPod touch
, Tablet PCs
Apple might be planning keynote for week of September 7th, might have new products on offer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:53:00 EST. .
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Apple might be planning keynote for week of September 7th, might have new products on offer
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
We’ve decided to start using Brando’s tireless refreshes as a sort of economic barometer — if an entire calendar month passes without a brand spanking new HDD dock, we’ll know we are in trouble. Seemingly content with its high-end offering, Brando has gone back to basics with the SATA Dual HDD Docking Station, which has space for a pair of 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives, but eschews the usual multicard reader. You get an eSATA extension kit in the package for suckling power and data from your computer, but that’s pretty much it. Is it convenient? Sure. But at $63 we’d expect a little bit more — like maybe bundling the hard drives for free.
, Storage
Brando churns out new HDD dock, all is well with the world originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:01:00 EST. .
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Brando churns out new HDD dock, all is well with the world
Posted on 13 August 2009 by EnGadgetMobile.com
BlackBerry’s newest consumer-class QWERTY smartphone — the Curve 8520 — seemed like a lock to launch on Vodafone UK on account of some scanned advertising a little while back, and sure enough, here it is. Considering that you can get virtually any phone in your wildest dreams for free on Voda as long as you pair it with an appropriately pricey contract, we’re not sure why you’d take up their offer of the 8520, really — especially considering that it tops out at EDGE speeds in a country where EDGE-only phones are antiquities better suited for museums than pockets. We guess that’d be what the “Why get this” section on the carrier’s product page is for, eh?
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Vodafone launches BlackBerry 8520 in the UK
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
Microsoft is quite confident of its leadership status on the Netbook front, boasting earlier this year of
96 percent attach rate for Windows and making other, more recent claims of return rates on Linux netbooks that are “like four or five times higher” than their Windows equivalents. Dell’s Senior Product Marketing Manager Todd Finch is refuting that last claim, saying “we don’t see a significant difference between the return rate for Windows versus the rate for Linux.” He does, however, continue to say that many people who return Linux netbooks simply bought the cheapest option they could find, expecting Windows and shipping the things back after being greeted by something other than a familiar UI upon startup. The panel at OpenSource World also tackled the topic of how to spur greater interest in Linux, and crushed the dreams of many attendees who believe in the
Field of Dreams approach: get Linux machines into retailers and demand will come. The demand has to come first, says Finch, and given the general non-existence of open source marketing, that’s going to take something of a Kevin Costner-scale miracle.
Dell refutes high Linux netbook return rates, but not customer ignorance originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:08:00 EST. .
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Dell refutes high Linux netbook return rates, but not customer ignorance
Posted on 13 August 2009 by Engadget.com
It sure seems like the world is ready for an
Android MID or, until it gets one, rumors and leaks to that effect. Tell us, what do you make of a slate-style device featuring the word “android” in the appropriate font, pics of the thing browsing the web (which, truth be told, look just as real as they could be ‘shopped in), a couple perfunctory specs (Rockchip CPU, somewhere between a 4.3 to 5-inch display, 3G, MSN Messenger and GTalk, WiFi) and a source for the images that fails to cough up names / links to the “handful” of Chinese tech sites that are allegedly all a-buzz about this thing? Well, we don’t know either — but if you do get your hands on one of these guys, send it our way, will you? Thanks — and in the meantime, hit that read link for the whole sordid tale (and a couple choice pics).
, Tablet PCs
Mysterious Android touchscreen MID pics surface, Charles Fort notified originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:42:00 EST. .
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Mysterious Android touchscreen MID pics surface, Charles Fort notified
