Ubergizmo

Compal JAX10 / Aigo P8880 Quick Review

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:01:56 -0800

[IDF] with the Atom blitz going on at IDF, it was a good opportunity to do some interesting hands-on with upcoming sexy gadgets. The Compal JAX10 (also sold by Aigo in white under the P8880 product name) was one that caught my eye. It has a full keyboard, WiFi + CDMA 1X connectivity and a GPS among an impressive list (full specs in the full page). This particular version was running Linux, but Windows XP could also be installed I'm told. My goal is to use it for web browsing, email and blogging. It is capable of doing all of the above, but the user interface is a serious limiting factor.

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Upcoming Event: NVISION 2008 & the demoscene

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:16:25 -0800

Next week, we are going to stop by NVISION to check on what's new with NVIDIA and may be we'll find out if the crazy X86 NVIDIA CPU rumors are true or completely fake (we've been hearing that since 2006...). Anyhow, if you think of going, you might want to check the Demoscene section called NVSCENE. The "demoscene" is a group of passionate individuals who program real time "demos" with sometimes astonishing technical constraints, like limited size of 64KB, 4KB or even full games (think Tetris) in 256 BYTES (yes, bytes). I have a particular bias for this event because I started in the industry as a "coder" in the demoscene. Most demoscene events happen in Europe, so this is a rare opportunity to see this talented bunch and their work in the U.S

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Haptic Radar Project

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:21:29 -0800

The boffins at University of Tokyo's Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory have long been working on sensory information and relevant technologies, with the Haptic Radar/Extended Skin Project being their pet project. The Haptic Radar relies on body-mounted range sensors and small vibrating motors that alerts the wearer of any approaching objects. Watch out, Spiderman! You might have your spider sense, but I have the haptic radar! Hopefully the rest of my body is agile enough to handle whatever punches that are coming my way, but I don't think I'll be able to dodge bullets with this like how Neo does in the Matrix.

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Apple Sued Over iPhone 3G Woes

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:00:28 -0800

Don't you just love America? You can virtually sue anyone, and the same has applied to Apple's well documented problems concerning poor reception with their iPhone 3G. An Alabama woman has already filed a class-action lawsuit against the fruit-inspired company, where despite advertisements touting the new iPhone 3G being 'twice as fast for half the price', the Internet connection she was getting with her iPhone 3G proved otherwise and worked "slower than expected and advertised," according to the suit. The suit has 100 class members at the very least, and they are seeking damages of over $5 million, along with a replacement for the iPhone 3G if it cannot be repaired.

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Sony PSP-3000 Announced

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:54:25 -0800

It is now official, folks! Sony just announced its PSP-3000, offering a couple of revisions over the PSP-2000. Does it come with a better joystick? Nope. How about a built-in SSD? You can forget about that, along with dreams of a hard drive. The only two changes are a built-in microphone and an LCD panel that is touted to work “better outside with no glare”. Well, will we see the Phoenix Wright series being ported over to the PSP since you can now shout "Objection!" into the microphone? I don't think so, but this indicates that voice-based communications will play a role in the PSP-3000 in due time. No idea on pricing, but will you make an upgrade to this model if you already own a PSP?

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Intel integrates memory controller into Nehalem, so what's the drama?

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:59:40 -0800

Everyone has known for about a year that the Core i7 processor (codenamed Nehalem) would have an integrated memory controller (IMC). For the little story, AMD did this years ago. But it's surprising to read that this is an "admission" from Intel that AMD "nailed" a key feature years before. While the drama is interesting, it is a little exaggerated, in my opinion. Ever since AMD introduced an IMC in its processors, people have asked Intel when they would follow. I don't remember Intel rejecting the idea, and their answer was more along the lines of: "when it makes sense for us". Interestingly enough, Intel was able to beat AMD without the IMC, it's not like they are the underdog today. IMC is nice, but it's not a silver bullet (ask AMD): improvements have been made on the whole architecture.

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AMD Cinema 2.0 demo video and comments

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:14:36 -0800

What you're about to see is a marketing presentation from AMD shown recently in NYC. Now, if you skip all the marketing stuff and go directly to 3:58, you'll see a few demos from OTOY (a company that's also trying to deliver games over the network. This time, OTOY is showing a few data scan demos that are interesting. Typically, scanned material look extremely good because all the lighting information/conditions can be recorded and rebuilt with a few variables. Before you get too excited, many of these techniques have been known for a while, but the reason why they have not made it to your games is because they either require (way) too much memory or are not practical when dealing with dynamic environment (unpredictable animation, destructible buildings...) which are required for real interactivity. It is cool to watch, but it’s even better after a little introduction.

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BlackBerry Bold available in Canada on Thursday

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:00:06 -0800

The long wait is over, it is official: Rogers Communications will offer the BlackBerry Bold on Thursday, August 21st , for a price ranging from $300 to $400 according to RIM's co-CEO Jim Balsillie. The pricing details were still not revealed, and AT&T will be its major carrier in the US.

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Archos 7 is an even larger Internet Tablet! (7-inches)

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:10:48 -0800

Announced alongside the Archos 5, the Archos 7 is in the same class of devices, except that it boast an even larger display and storage (320GB max). The display resolution stays the same (800x480), that might be great for those who think that such a resolution is too small on a 5" device. That might make the touch-interface even easier to use as well. Just like its smaller sibbling, it supports WiFi and 3.5G, making it a potent wireless device. Other than that, they pretty much share the same capabilities. Look at all the specifications in the full post.

To view a larger version look at the Archos 7 photo-gallery

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Archos 5 is an Internet Media Tablet

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:00:21 -0800

Archos is entering the Mobile Internet Device (MID) market with the Archos 5. The company is best known for its portable media players (PMP), but it shows that it can adapt itself to changing consumer demands by providing a persistent internet connectivity. Someone that that I know said: "the computer is the display", and it's very true with the Archos 5 five-inch touch screen display: a width of 800 pixels wide should allow a closer -to-desktop (I hate to use "true") web experience not found on mobile phones. Of course that's only useful if there's a 3G connection. Well, a 3.5G one to be precise. The integrated web browser is Flash-compatible (Youtube...) and we hope that it is Ajax-compatible too, but we don't know for sure. The user interface design is unknown too, but we'll look into it. Specifications and pricing in the full post.

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