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Fri07Nov20080544PM

Rambus takes aim at NVIDIA over alleged patent infringement, again

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While there still doesn’t seem to have been any developments in the lawsuit Rambus filed against NVIDIA earlier this year, that doesn’t seem to be stopping the company from opening up another front against its would-be arch rival, and it’s now taken its case to the International Trade Commission. As before, Rambus is alleging that NVIDIA and its partner companies are infringing on a whole slew of its memory-related patents, and it’s asking for a ban on all imports and sales of NVIDIA products that include DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, GDDR, GDDR2, and GDDR3 memory controllers — or anything with an NVIDIA logo on it, basically. For its part, NVIDIA doesn’t seem to be commenting on the matter just yet, but Rambus said in a statement that it believes the action was “necessary given NVIDIA’s continued willful infringement of our patents.” Look for the ITC to make a decision on whether to start an investigation into the matter or not within the next 30 days, and you can keep tabs on any future Rambus litigation on the Litigation Update section of its website which, yes, actually exists.

Read - Rambus Press Release, “Rambus Files Complaint Against International Trade Commission”
Read - Rambus Litigation Update

[Via The Inquirer]

Rambus takes aim at NVIDIA over alleged patent infringement, again originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fri07Nov20080544PM

JVC, Sensio team up on high-end consumer 3D projection system

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Far from being the first (or second, or third) partnership aimed at getting 3D in the home, JVC and Sensio have jointly chosen EHX Fall 2008 to announce their loving new union. By joining forces, they’re purporting to introduce the “very first high-end 3D solution available on the consumer market.” Granted, this so-called solution won’t be cheap nor simple, as it will require a pair of JVC’s costly D-ILA projectors and a media server integrating Sensio’s 3D decoding technology. At the show, the pair demonstrated the forthcoming system by utilizing two $9,000 (yes, each) DLA-RS2 beamers (pictured), though it’s never stated whether or not any gaudy goggles are required for visualizing the third-dimension. At any rate, the kit won’t be available until sometime in 2009, but it’s quite possible we’ll get a sneak peek at CES in January.

[Via Electronic House]

JVC, Sensio team up on high-end consumer 3D projection system originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fri07Nov20080544PM

Switched On: The Peek of popularity

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Filed under: Handhelds

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Last week’s Switched On delved into Celio’s REDFLY, an austere smartphone accessory designed for enterprise users who manage their digital lives on their smartphones. REDFLY has faced scrutiny from the geek elite who have noted that, for about the same price as a REDFLY, one can get an independently functioning netbook that does so much more. A similar argument has also been levied at Peek, a wireless e-mail appliance that delivers only a part of what most smartphones can do.

But the two products could hardly be more different. Whereas REDFLY is a smartphone companion, Peek is a smartphone alternative featuring a slim design and a commitment to simplicity that borders on obsession. For example, Peek, like many modern smartphones, will attempt to guess your mail server information by your e-mail address. But if your e-mail address stumps it, there is no way to enter a server name or IP address manually. This omission is intentional, according to Peek, which didn’t want consumers to have to find out technical settings. Instead, customers are directed to contact the company’s support line where a customer service representative will set up the account for them.

The approach is in lockstep with the device’s target market — busy and less technical consumers, particularly young mothers, who find themselves increasingly dependent on e-mail and don’t want the complexity of a smartphone or the high cost of running one on a 3G network. Peek provides an alternative to a growing movement within the cellular industry to force minimal data plans on advanced phones. And for consumers who find carrier stores less than inviting, Peek is sold at Target, and it works.

Continue reading Switched On: The Peek of popularity

Switched On: The Peek of popularity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fri07Nov20080543PM

How would you change the Voodoo Envy 133?

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Filed under: Laptops

While low-cost laptops are all the rage right now, there’s still a solid chunk of folks out there willing to pay a premium for potent ultraportables. The Voodoo Envy 133 is undeniably one of the sexier small machines we’ve seen of late, and the internals are rather impressive given the size of the enclosure. Still, this here rig costs a pretty penny, and we’ve all ideas those who splurged have a thing or two to say about it with nearly two months of usage under their belt. Has the Envy 133 lived up to your surely lofty expectations? Are there aspects there you wish were different? How could Voodoo go about tweaking things whenever it finally decides to actually launch ~~another product at all~~ its successor?

How would you change the Voodoo Envy 133? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wed05Nov20081049AM

Canon announces XH A1S and XH G1S prosumer HD camcorders

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Just in case the XL H1S and XL H1A weren’t really your style, Canon’s hoping to snag a fair chunk of your short-term savings with a new duo of prosumer HD camcorders. The HDV XH A1S and XH G1S both feature a 20x HD video lens, manual zoom / focus, three independent manual adjustment rings, an “unprecedented” range of image / color settings, 60i / 30F / 24F frame rate options, Instant AF focusing system, the DIGIC DV II proprietary digital signal processor, two built-in XLR terminals with separate audio-input sensitivity settings, line output level switching and support for optional HDD recording in the field. The XH G1S adds in HD-SDI / SD-SDI output, SMPTE timecode input / output, and genlock input, which are all features that probably won’t be missed by greenies baffled by the mere mention of those inclusions. Get set for showtime next month as the pair sells for $3,999 and $6,999, respectively.

Gallery: Canon announces XH A1S and XH G1S prosumer HD camcorders

Canon announces XH A1S and XH G1S prosumer HD camcorders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wed05Nov20081049AM

Jailbroken iPhone 3G gets external keyboard, says “Hello”

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Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

If you’re one of those people always complaining about the iPhone keyboard (the lack of one, that is), then this is probably a vital piece of news, even if it’s not totally practical. Or practical in any way, actually. Some very enterprising citizen of the world seems to be running a chunk of Ruby code on his jailbroken iPhone 3G, which allows it to recognize what appears to be a Palm / Visor external keyboard connected via a custom cable. The results of this intense bit of modification? Well — not much, honestly, but it’s still kinda cool. “Hello Keyboard,” indeed. Check out the video of it in action after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Jailbroken iPhone 3G gets external keyboard, says “Hello”

Jailbroken iPhone 3G gets external keyboard, says “Hello” originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wed05Nov20081049AM

AU Optronics’ miraculous LCD Panels can read fingerprints or UV levels

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Female? User of LCD panels? Have fingerprints that need read? Worried about skin cancer? If you answer “yes” to any or all of these questions, we have news that is sure to knock your sun-lovin’ socks off. Among the items on display at this year’s FPD International Exhibition in Yokohama are two exciting LCD panels: they’re both 2.8 inches, and they’re both manufactured by AU Optronics (a company that knows a thing or two about liquid crystal displays). The first panel functions as a fingerprint scanner — it boasts a pixel count of 320 x 240, each pixel is equipped with four optical sensors, and sends its output to a 640 x 480 monitor. The other panel uses similar technology to measure the intensity of UV rays, numerically displaying the results on a scale of 0 to 11. According to the company, the UV reader “is targeted at female users who are concerned about the amount of UV light outdoors.” There’s no word yet on a UV reader for men, but you’ll know as soon as we do.

AU Optronics’ miraculous LCD Panels can read fingerprints or UV levels originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wed05Nov20081049AM

HTC’s Touch HD now available for £514.99

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Filed under: Cellphones

It’s not apt to ever go on sale in America (okay, so maybe there’s a sliver of a sliver of a chance), but HTC’s Touch HD is now on sale for fortunate Britons with a fair amount of poundage to spare. The drop-dead gorgeous WinMo 6.1 handset can be procured right now for £514.99 ($821) sans contract, but if you’re a North American mulling an import, you should obviously tack on a few more bills to that. You’re still mulling, aren’t you?

[Via MoDaCo]

HTC’s Touch HD now available for £514.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tue04Nov20080958AM

Russian Eee PC 901 looks good in skin-tight leather

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Filed under: Laptops

Russian Eee PC 901 looks good in skin-tight leather

We were all ready to ~~whip out~~ utilize a series of stereotypical cultural allusions when we saw pictures of a leather-clad Eee PC 901 show up on a German site — only to have our hopes dashed when it turned out to actually be a Russian laptop under there. So, this entry will be entirely free of references to bondage and guys named Dieter, focusing only on what looks to be a very tastefully modified netbook. Nikussan at the Eee-PC.ru forums is responsible for this project, dubbed “Operation Anti-Gloss” (that’s “Oперация Антиглянец” if you dig Cyrillic). He indicated that stretching and gluing this skin on the device wasn’t too difficult, the only real issue being the fine trimming required to get it to latch. The finish is perhaps not quite as seamless as Asus’s various official leather offerings, but we’d totally rock one at the local ~~S&M club~~ Starbucks.

[Via Eee PC News]

Russian Eee PC 901 looks good in skin-tight leather originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tue04Nov20080958AM

DSi already hacked, greets us with a lusty ‘Hello World!’

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

We love those two magic words: “Hello World!” It’s not even been a week since the DSi’s Japanese launch and someone has hacked the handheld, stirring up all our homebrew dreams in the process. The coder in question has yet to release any specifics, but the touchscreen seems to be blank (you can make of that tidbit what you will). Exciting, yes? Still, until any other details emerge we’re inclined to be a little skeptical. Just a little. In the meantime, be sure to catch the glorious video of the event after the break.

Continue reading DSi already hacked, greets us with a lusty ‘Hello World!’

DSi already hacked, greets us with a lusty ‘Hello World!’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tue04Nov20080958AM

Fujitsu unveils LifeBook N7010 with secondary 4-inch touchscreen

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Filed under: Laptops

We were expecting to see Fujitsu’s U820 break cover this morning, but the company managed to keep another trick up its sleeve: the 16-inch LifeBook N7010, which features a second four-inch touch screen above the keyboard. Interestingly, the touchscreen isn’t a SideShow display, but rather appears as a second monitor — meaning you can replace the default launcher app with any window of your choosing, including full-screen video. Nifty trick — we’d have been more into it if it had somehow been combined with the gesture-enabled trackpad, but we’ll see if this design takes off. Other specs are nicely on the higher-end of things, if familiar: 2.26GHz P8400 Core 2 Duo, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3470 graphics, 4GB RAM, 320GB drive, Blu-ray, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and WiFi / Bluetooth. Not bad at all for $1,499 — too bad we don’t have any availability details.

[Via Slashgear]

Read - Fujitsu N7010 announcement
Read - Laptop hands-on

Fujitsu unveils LifeBook N7010 with secondary 4-inch touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tue04Nov20080958AM

WD TV HD Media Player smacked up, flipped, rubbed down

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Western Digital’s WD TV HD Media Player kept a low profile before hitting shelves this month, but with only $99 separating MaddHat.com from a thorough teardown, the inevitable next step was taken. Besides snapshots inside and out — and the ubiquitous iPhone size comparison photo — a quick runthrough with a variety of MKV-packed videos revealed delightfully nerdy results. The 1080p h.264 decoding was smooth, although some odd sharpening on 720p files while in 1080p output mode, and less than optimal results with 1080i-encoded files were noted. 1080p24 support didn’t make it into the box, same for .ISO direct support — no worries though, as it wasn’t enough to stop the .m2ts files in the Blu-ray backups from playing directly. Good for the price, but with stiff competition — Popcorn Hour anyone? — being “good enough” in this sector is getting harder, pics and details are beyond the read link.

WD TV HD Media Player smacked up, flipped, rubbed down originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mon03Nov20081107AM

Wiimote RapidFire mod makes it easier to act on your pixel-based bloodlust

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Call it Nintendo Darwinism: the evolution of the Wiimote over time due to survival pressures (or the simple desire to kick increasing amounts of undead ass). As a further example of the phenomenon, AcidMods’ Wii RapidFire kit adds full-auto functionality to either your A or B button, courtesy of a solitary chip and some pretty straightforward soldering. To sweeten the deal, they’ve added an on / off switch, and the old A button lights up to let you know when you’re in business. For some enticing photos and ordering info hit that read link, and be sure to check out some red hot video of the device in action after the break.

[Thanks, Mark]

Continue reading Wiimote RapidFire mod makes it easier to act on your pixel-based bloodlust

Wiimote RapidFire mod makes it easier to act on your pixel-based bloodlust originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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