House Defeats Bill To Delay Analog TV Transition [Digital TV]

House Republicans have defeated the bill to extend the DTV switch by a vote of 258-168 (less than two-thirds). In their view, a delay would confuse customers and financially burden television stations.

So, for now, end game is still happening on February 17th and not June 12th as the Obama administration had hoped. With the coupon program broke and an estimated 6.5 million US homes still running analog, it seems that no matter when this goes down, chaos is unavoidable. [Physorg and Getty Images Photo ]

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OLPC 2.0 dual touchscreen mockup surfaces in the wild

What we’re staring at here is apparently the first “in the wild” shot of the promised dual touchscreen OLPC 2.0. As far as we can tell (thanks, Mr. Blurrycam), we’d wager this is a purely non-working mockup, since that “touchscreen” looks a bit too much like “glued-on paper” to us, but we’re really short on info otherwise. What is encouraging here is that apparently someone is taking this dual screen idea seriously, and it’s hard to deny that such an improbable form factor could really end up being the shot-in-the-arm this project needs.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

OLPC 2.0 dual touchscreen mockup surfaces in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile HTC Shadow II Hands On [T-Mobile Shadow]

T-Mobile’s just launched the Shadow (Shadow II), the successor to the HTC Shadow, which features a customized UI on top of Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s quite similar to the original in just about all respects.

The scroll wheel’s still there, and the T-Mobile customized UI is still there, the sliding SureType half-QWERTY keyboard is still there and the Windows Mobile Standard (non-touchscreen) edition OS is still there. I can’t call this the same phone, but it’s pretty damn similar. It does have support for T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot Calling, which is the calling over Wi-Fi (@ Home) system you can sign up for.

The first thing we’ve noticed is that the phone is light—we thought the battery was missing at first until it booted right up. The keys are bulged and feel good enough (looks the same as the first), and the scroll wheel flipped between items with only slight lag. There’s still Windows Mobile sluggishness throughout, which you’ll notice as you’re dumped from the T-Mobile customized front screen whenever you’re trying to do some task.

The new Shadow doesn’t seem to push the bar of Windows Mobile as much as the original Shadow did, but it’s not a bad phone—it’s just a Windows Mobile phone. It’s portable, light, and somewhat solid. It’s just too bad that it uses Windows Mobile Standard instead of Professional. This is about as good a WM Smartphone as you’re gonna get before Windows Mobile 6.5 hits later this year, which is what you should be waiting for instead of making a purchase now. But if were looking for a phone that’s really black, there’s a reason why they call this the Shadow. Seriously. Cause it’s black. Really black. Ninjas could use this and not be detected.

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AMD has no plans for Geode successor, retirement party

You know that low-power Geode processor that powered a-many of OLPC XOs? Better stock up now, ’cause AMD isn’t planning a proper successor. In the words of spokesman Phil Hughes: “There are no plans for a follow-on product to today’s available AMD Geode LX products, but we expect to make this very successful processor available to customers as long as the market demands.” Pretty straightforward if we should say so ourselves, but it’ll be kind of weird with just VIA and Intel holding down the low-power CPU fort. According to Dean McCarron, president for Mercury Research, the Geode was “a nice niche market for [AMD],” but considering the current market, the chip maker is being forced to focus its efforts on fewer devices. It’s been real, Geode — way to go out on top.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Laptops

AMD has no plans for Geode successor, retirement party originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Mini 9 Has a More Pro Screen Than MacBook Pro [Notebooks]

Rob Galbraith checks out the screens on the three hottest notebooks in their respective classes from a pro photographer’s standpoint—new MacBook Pro, Dell Mini 9 and Lenovo W700—and how they stack up will surprise you

His reference monitor is a Eizo ColorEdge CE240W and he throws a Lenovo ThinkPad T60 into the mix for good measure, since its in-plane switching LCD panel produces good color reproduction and even screen brightness.

That Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700—which is geared toward pro photographers and has a built-in Pantone calibrator—tops the list for color accuracy and “could just about replace a desktop display” for pro work is probably not so shocking. What is crazy, however, is that the Dell Inspiron Mini 9—a $300 netbook—has display with better “overall hue accuracy” than the $1999 MacBook Pro, which is “one or two steps below a good desktop display.” BTW, Rob loves the Mini 9 so much he calls it “a workflow-altering experience.”

His full assessment of every display is definitely worth reading, even if you’re not a photographer. [Rob Galbraith, Image: Rob Galbraith]

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Prosthetic Nipples Add That Winter Glow All Year Long [Nsfw]

Even with a perfect figure, it can be difficult to draw attention in the era of outpatient cosmetic surgery. Luckily the Nipple Pheromone is here to help.

If ditching the bra and dropping the ambient temperature to a brisk 35 degrees hasn’t done the trick, or if nature has simply not provided you with nipples that can protrude sensually from your otherwise PG business casual sweater, the Nipple Pheromone can level the playing field so you can compete with that new, hot cleavage chick from HR. After all, you are an educated, hard-working, handsome man. And dammit, you deserve that promotion. [Tokyo Times]

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iPhoto’s Facial Recognition Feature Works on Cats [IPhoto]

Apple recently showed off their new iPhoto’s facial recognition feature, but said it only can recognize human faces, not animals. MacLife tested it out and proved Apple wrong: iPhoto can tell kitties apart. [MacLife]

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Video: Samsung Show W7900 Projector-Packing Cellphone Actually Looks Pretty Cool [Pico Projectors]

This currently Korea-only projector cellphone peeped up its head at CES, and now our friends at PopSci had a chance to play with the Show and its 10-lumen built-in DLP projector.

Yep it’s a bit chubby, as any projector-toting phone most certainly will be, but it’s not as horrible as some of the other projector phones we’ve seen. Aside from the 480 x 320-res projector that uses Texas Instruments’ DLP tech, the Show also has a fine-looking 3.2-inch, 400 x 240 OLED touch screen, 5MP camera with LED flash, and Samsung’s widget-based touch OS. It’s dropping in South Korea soon, but there’s of course no news on a US release.

I’m actually pretty surprised at how good the image looks here. I’m still pretty skeptical that anyone will ever find an actual day-to-day use other than novelty from any pico projector, but if it’s built into your phone in a bulky but not Zach Morris bulky package, maybe that’s the answer. Check out more photos and impressions over at: [PopSci]

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HP’s six-cell battery for Mini 1000 offers twice the battery life, a fraction of the value

Mr. Blurrycam never lies, so when he caught sight of a six-cell battery for HP’s Mini 1000 we knew one would be coming soon. Sure enough, three weeks later it’s up for sale on HP’s site selling for a bargain (gulp) price of $153.90. That’s almost half the cost of an entire machine (which currently start at $350) and as of now you can’t pay the difference to upgrade from the stock three-cell when customizing a new netbook. That’s an awful lot of bank for twice the battery life, but don’t let us rain on your parade if you’re looking to do your part to help the economy.

Filed under: Laptops

HP’s six-cell battery for Mini 1000 offers twice the battery life, a fraction of the value originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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