Technology

NewsFactor - Many observers of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are waiting to see what kind of presence the open-source Android mobile-phone platform will have among new smartphones. Some have speculated that HTC, which makes the pioneering T-Mobile G1 Android handset, might release its own Android model.

About six months ago, we reported that Toyota was planning on putting solar panels on the Prius to power the air-conditioner. It has been recently been released that the famed Japanese motor company plans to release a car that is completely solar-powered.

As you can see on the photo, the solar panels are on the roof like solar panels of a house. This is only one way the car gets its power, as the company wants to supplement power by somehow attaching the car to the solar panels on the roofs of homes. This way, a car can be powered in a garage or parked outside.

Toyota is actually quite ahead of the solar power game. Their company in central Japan has solar panels on the roof that are equivalent in area to sixty tennis courts, and can produce enough energy to power 500 homes. That is enough annual savings for 740 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equal to using 1,500 barrels of crude oil.

So is this the dawning of the age of the solar car? I used to think that a solar car was a useless invention, as most people drive at night. However, if it is possible to charge a car with solar power, then I guess we’d power our car in a manner similar to solar-powered cell phone chargers.

Originally, Toyota said that it would have the solar panels on the Prius by Spring 2009. However, a car that is entirely solar powered will take years of development, so we don’t know exactly when we will see Toyota’s solar car. I’m sure you will agree that it is a step in the right direction for a greener world.

Source
Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ Toyota’s Solar-powered Car copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Samsung and Yahoo! promise the Best of the Web on select 2009 HDTV models, thanks to the Internet@TV widgets we snuck a look at a few weeks ago. Developers build Javascript and XML apps that then run directly on your Samsung HDTV, starting with USA Today, YouTube, eBay, Showtime and Yahoo properties like Flickr and Yahoo! News. Next up their sleeves? Video streaming and "other popular Internet services" running through the built-in Ethernet or optional Wi-Fi USB dongle. Also, unlike some others, the Internet@TV Content service isn't just a U.S. thing, headed to 12 other countries this year: Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Having the Internet no further away than the nearest remote was your biggest request for '09, right?

Filed under: CES, Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Networking

Samsung / Yahoo Internet@TV widgets revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I'm still working my way through James Boyle's excellent The Public Domain, but it's chock full of examples of ways that copyright holds back cultural expression -- and that comes to mind in reading the saga of a movie called Sita Sings the Blues. It was brought to my attention by Rich W, who saw the film at a film festival a while back and loved it. After that, the film disappeared off the radar, but was brought back to some attention right before Christmas, when Roger Ebert wrote a glowing review of it. He, like Rich, didn't expect to like it, and didn't even plan to watch it -- but after being convinced to check it out, he loved it. But, what he discovered is that the film was unlikely to get any distribution because, despite being an animated reimagining of a classic Indian love story, it uses the songs of popular jazz singer Annette Hanshaw, recorded in the 1920s.

To clear the rights for the music, apparently more money than the entire movie cost was required. As Ebert noted: "Don't the copyright owners realize they are contributing to the destruction of their property by removing it from knowledge?" Exactly. Meanwhile, the creator of the film, Nina Paley, has been actively blogging about the ordeal. The attention brought about by Ebert's endorsement has resulted in the copyright holders lowering their demands, but including some pretty onerous strings that will make it nearly impossible for her to ever profit from the movie (from which she's already in debt). Basically, if she actually sells copies of the movie, she'll owe a lot more -- but that doesn't apply to promotional copies of the movie. In response, she's worked out a convoluted plan, whereby she'll pay the awful initial fees, but, knowing she'll never get direct profits from it, she's working hard to free the film up as much as possible -- by putting the entire movie up as a "promotion" on the Internet Archive, while putting it under some sort of open and free license.

From there, she goes on to list out a whole bunch of ways that she hopes to still make money, indirectly, from the success of the movie -- even as she's going into further debt to pay off the music copyright holders. Many of her suggestions for business models will sound quite familiar to folks around here (ancillary products, special limited edition signed products, sponsorships, etc.). It's a shame she needs to go to these levels just to pay off the copyright holders on these compositions from nearly a century ago -- who would only be helped by the success of this movie. Hopefully the other business models she's testing out will be able to cover those costs, but she's already in a deep hole, which is a huge shame. Of course, at the same time, this experience appears to have turned her into something of a convert when it comes to understanding the damages brought about by copyright. Separate from the movie, she's decided to copyleft an old comic she created years ago (though, she's asking for help to get them online).

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Just as Canon did last year, it has busted out a plethora of new high-def camcorders for our enjoyment over the course of 2009. Without further adieu, let's take a closer look at the outfit's five newest. Starting things off are the VIXIA HF S10 and VIXIA HF S100 flash models, which offer up to 32GB of internal storage along with an SDHC card slot. Both units tout the DIGIC DV III image processor, an 8.59-megapixel Full HD CMOS sensor, face detection, Auto Exposure system and the ability to snap 8-megapixel stills. Moving on, we've got the VIXIA HF20 and VIXIA HF200 models, both of which include a 3.59-megapixel Full HD CMOS sensor and a 15x lens. Closing out the bunch is the HV40 HDV, which offers a 2.96-megapixel Full HD CMOS sensor, 10x zoom lens, native 24p support and a Custom Key Mode that filmmakers should adore. Sadly, the full release is curiously devoid of pricing and availability information.

Gallery: Canon comes clean with HD camcorder lineup at CES 2009

Filed under: CES, Digital Cameras

Canon comes clean with HD camcorder lineup at CES 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have devised ultra-hard vehicle armour to protect military personnel.

The Home Office has signed up to an EU suggestion to remotely access computers for surveillance but say little will change.

Here's another severe warping of the spacetime continuum caused by the financiapocalypse: Notebook makers want Intel to delay its crazyfast Nehalem-based mobile CPUs and chipsets. In other words, they want notebooks to be slower, longer.

The Calpella platform is scheduled for launch in July or August, just like Montevina (">aka Centrino 2) did earlier this year. But, because the Centrino 2 notebooks haven't sold like hotcakes or any other kind of delicious breakfast pastry thanks to the economy and netbooks, notebook makers want more time to dump inventory. So, they want to see Calpella and its Nehalem CPUs (aka Core i7 on the desktops) in October instead of the summer, meaning you've got a wait another few months to get your hands on all the zoomzoom power of Nehalem in a notebook. Laaaame. [Digitimes, Image: Flickr/yomi955]

Not content with letting the freelancers at Venture Beat hog the spotlight, some HP-loving Canadians decided to take their 2133 Mini-Note and add a dash of Google's Android OS -- the best thing to happen to netbooks since SSD. There isn't really much in terms of details right now, but if you're the kind of person who gets totally stoked by watching someone go through a preference pane and empty photo album -- without using a mouse, mind you -- we've got just the video for you after the break. Let's hope this Android-netbook lovefest doesn't stop anytime soon.

[Via Netbooknews.de]

Filed under: Laptops

Move over, Eee: Android now running on HP Mini-Note 2133 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We are a bit late announcing the winner of the last year’s final coolest gadget competition so without further ado it is the iMu Vibrating Speaker: Turn anything into a sound system.

The iMu vibrating speaker will transform any flat, hard surface into a top notch audio speaker.You can listen to your beats from things like tops of household appliances, cupboards and even car bonnets. It works thanks to a unique US Navy-developed composite called Terfenol-D.

Congrats again to Gaj-It.

In second place we have the Anti-Grav R/C Wall Racing Car.

Can an R/C car really impress nowadays? Yes, it definitely can. The Anti-Grav R/C Wall Racing Car races up walls. No special effects or camera tricks, just physics: the car generates a powerful vacuum underneath causing it to cling to any flat surface. Up

Finally in third place comes the The Datamancer Aviator Keyboard.

If you’re a fan of steampunk styled gadgets, then check out this cool keyboard, the Datamancer Aviator Keyboard.
This stunning looking keyboard comes with a brushed aluminum frame, a black felt face plate, and a bunch or jewel LEDs in blue, red, voilet, green or amber.

Thank you to everybody who voted, submitted, commented or told a friend. The randomly drawn winner of the $200 Amazon vouchers is…

jcarey (jeanlcarey@), congratulations Jean.

Thanks again everybody. As we will be busy covering CES 2009 for the next week or so CGOTW will return next week.

Want to hear about future contests first? Subscribe to our daily digest via email or RSS.

If you write for a gadget themed blog and wish to be included in next week’s contest check out the CGOTW instructions page.

Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ The last coolest gadget of the week and $200 winner is… copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

If you are an early adopter like myself, you have probably left a trail of iPods in your wake. This little DIY project is a great way to repurpose those obsolete players as desktop speakers.

All-in-all, the conversion cost around $100, with most of the cost tied up in shipping. In the end, a little soldering, gluing and dremmeling resulted in some sweet looking speakers that would naturally go well with any Mac setup. Hit the link for complete instructions. [Voiding Warranties via Hacked Gadgets via CraziestGadgets]

We at Coolest Gadgets are very excited about CES 2009, and you, the reader, will be hearing a lot about it this week. Here’s a little sneak preview of one of the many products that will be on display: the Gdium from EMTEC.

The Gdium is a completely Open Source portable computer, and comes preloaded with applications such as Firefox, Thunderbird, VoIP, a blog editor, video/audio player, and Open Office suite applications. A user who owns a Gdium has full access to a website designed just for him or her. This site has a social networking program as well as email devices, forums, and blogs.

The Gdium also has low energy usage with an MIPS-64 chip designed by ST Microelectronics, running on an optimized Mandriva Linux OS. In addition to this, it has a G-key which “allows users to store their data and apps on a USB flash drive and not have to save anything on the actual machine”.

The EMTEC Gdium has a 10 inch screen with a 1024×600 resolution, and measures small enough to be considered a “netbook”. There is no word when it will be available, but the price should be under $400. However, as I said before, you can see it at CES.

Source

Introducing Foolish Gadgets because not all gadgets are cool
[ EMTEC to introduce the Gdium at CES 2009 copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

While Microvision isn't new (per se) to the pico projector arena entirely, it certainly lacks the namesake of, say, Dell or Optoma. Of course, it's not letting that fact damper its excitement about the PicoP-based SHOW WX. The pre-production device is being unveiled today at Macworld, and it promises to boast a 25% package-size reduction over the company's own SHOW prototype. The diminutive beamer will eventually arrive with a WVGA native resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, a battery good for around two hours of usage and a chassis that measures just 4.6- x 2.4- x 0.6-inches. The outfit anticipates that commercial production will get going in Q2, with mass availability ready by 2H 2009; regrettably, pricing still remains a mystery.

Filed under: Displays

Microvision's PicoP-based SHOW WX pocket PJ makes debut originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why would you need a USB-powered soldering iron? To be honest, you could ask the same question about a lot of USB devices these days.

Still, if you were so inclined you could build one yourself with a simple battery-powered soldering iron, a USB cable and the instructions provided by GetLoFi. On the other hand, if you are willing to send an undisclosed amount of money to a shady Taiwanese exporter, there is at least one commercial version floating around out there. [GetLoFi and Megatone via Make]

There are all sorts of well known investment strategies out there, but it's often difficult to find anyone who sticks to them -- even those who are famous for pitching those investment strategies, apparently. The Wall Street Journal surveyed a number of people famous for their investment strategies and found plenty willing to (somewhat sheepishly) admit they don't follow the strategies themselves, often proving that emotion overcomes rational thinking when it comes to investments:

• Harry Markowitz, winner of a Nobel Prize in economics, in part for his work on the relationship between risk and return admits that, rather than pay attention to any of that in his personal investing: "I visualized my grief if the stock market went way up and I wasn't in it -- or if it went way down and I was completely in it. My intention was to minimize my future regret. So I split my contributions 50/50 between bonds and equities."
• John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard funds, and the high priest of constantly "rebalancing" your portfolio, to sell what's gone up and buy more of what's gone down, doesn't actually do that himself: "I think rebalancing makes a substantial amount of sense. I don't rebalance... I leave it alone. I have not touched my asset allocation since March of 2000."
• Don Phillips, managing director at research firm Morningstar Inc., who pushes people to put certain non-equity investments, like treasuries and REITs, into tax-deferred retirement accounts, hasn't actually done so himself. "I still think of my retirement assets as meeting long-term goals and have trouble putting anything but equities in them, even though I know that I should think of my portfolio as a whole, not as pools of money tied to independent goals."
• And then there's Burton Malkiel, the Princeton economist who wrote A Random Walk Down Wall Street, which has convinced many, many people to put all of their money in index funds, doesn't do that himself: "Actually, I have a quarter to a third of my money in individual stocks and actively managed funds.... It's not necessarily because I think I'll be any better off than with indexing, but I still want to buy a few individual stocks because it's fun."

That's not to say that any of the investment strategies proposed by these guys is necessarily bad. It just shows how incredibly difficult it is to be disciplined enough to actually follow them.

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Roku owners looking to go discless are one step closer, now that Amazon Video On Demand will be available on the box after a free software update in early 2009. Fulfilling the promise of more "big name" providers to come, flicks like The Dark Knight, Pineapple Express or any of Amazon's 40,000 other titles can be purchased and played back to the TV for a 24 hour window. The bad news? Max bitrate is an h.264 compressed 1200Kbps. Not bad if SD only is your bag, but we're even more eagerly awaiting another Amazon VOD HD rumor.

Filed under: CES, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Roku digital video player adding Amazon Video On Demand originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This candidate for UPS-guy-of-the-year doesn't even wait for his van to come to a complete stop before someone's brand new something gets hail-mary'd into the garage. Thankfully, a security cam captured it all.

Well done, sir. [LiveLeak via Neatorama]

New Year's is over, Steve's unhealthy but OK, and MacWorld 2009 is almost here! While you wait, go and take a gander at everything you missed here at Gizmodo this weekend:

Saturday Brilliance:

• Sony's tiny tot of a VAIO netbook looks to be shiny, bright and expensive. Sounds like Sony to us!
• This handy Star Wars clock looks sharp and reminds smuggler friends that parsecs are a measure of distance, not time.
• Hardcore Xbox 360 FPS fans rejoice! This mod brings legit keyboard and mouse controls to the console.
• Saturday saw nothing but deals, deals, deals on HDTV and other geeky necessities.
• An iPhone poured a beer with its accelerometer. Heaven on earth?

Sunday Funday:

• The NASA Spirit rover, five years on planet, is truly one of humanity's greatest accomplishments.
• No Steve at MacWorld, but Unibody MacBook Pro 17-inchers are a real possibility.
• Speaking of MacWorld, be sure to check out the keynote liveblog right here for instant Apple gratification.
• The Audi R8 supercar is Hot, but its lights? Not so much. They're all LEDs—a first for automobiles!
• Want to see something really, really fake? Like embarrassingly fake? Check this "Product (RED)" iPhone 3G.

Now get to the homepage and read the latest and greatest gadget, MacWorld and CES news.

The Apple founder and CEO says he'll stay on during "simple and straightforward" treatment for hormone imbalance.

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Don't forget kids, Apple (and our main man Phil Schiller) will be doing its final Macworld thing live and direct come Tuesday morning, and as usual, we'll be there doing what we do: liveblogging the hell out of it. Set your alarms, wake the neighbors, and settle in for the mind-blowingest keynote you done ever seen. Here's where you need to check in on Tuesday, January 6th:

Live from the Macworld 2009 keynote

At these times:

07:00AM - Hawaii
09:00AM - Pacific
10:00AM - Mountain
11:00AM - Central
12:00PM - Eastern
05:00PM - London
06:00PM - Paris
02:00AM - Tokyo (January 7th)

Filed under: Announcements

Apple's final Macworld keynote is Tuesday, and we'll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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