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The U.S. Military's dabbled with full-on robotic suits in the past, but it's now looking at a less convoluted, more energy-efficient approach. A project called Warrior Web from DARPA aims to enhance soldier carrying capacity and minimize injuries by distributing loads better, providing better joint support and "reapply(ing) energy to enhance motion." Such a suit would be equipped with sensors to detect forces, and be able to fit beneath existing uniforms while consuming only 100W of juice. The U.S. Army has nearly completed five months of prototype testing using a multi-camera motion capture system (see the video after the break) to develop critical tech. The next step will be to design and fabricate a suit ready for real-world testing, which should happen in the fall -- assuming the program keeps its footing.
Filed under: Wearables, Science
Source: DARPA
If you've ever sighed in frustration at not being able to leap straight from discovering a song to playing it ad-nauseum on Spotify or Rdio, here's a heads-up. Shazam's iPad-focused iOS update integrates both streaming services with its discovery software in addition to a new look home screen and an auto-tagging mode that'll passively observe any music in the background. The mapping service has also been tweaked, letting you search and see what songs are being tagged in your neighborhood (or anyone else's, for that matter) and if you'd like to see it in action, head on past the break.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, HD, Mobile, Apple
MediaFire says its cloud storage service now has 30 million users, but it seems that only a minority of those have installed the Android or iOS interfaces -- the former has seen less than 500,000 downloads, for example. One extra feature that might boost the utility of these mobile interfaces is the forthcoming addition of media streaming, to help MediaFire compete with likes of Amazon Cloud Player -- and with the added draw of 50GB free lifetime storage (or a time-limited off of $24.99 annually for 100GB). There's no sign of the app update on either platform just yet, but it'll get there when it gets there.
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Tablets, Storage, Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Google Play, iTunes
While taking a look around HTC China's online store after the Desire 600 (aka Desire 606w in China) announcement, we also stumbled upon this Desire 608t that was first outed by TENAA in late April. With the exception of the One SV-like design and the TD-SCDMA radio for China Mobile, this model is otherwise identical to its 606w sibling, especially with the Sense 5-enhanced Android 4.1, BoomSound front stereo speakers, dual SIM and even the CN¥2,499 ($410) unsubsidized price tag. Other specs include: 4.5-inch 960 x 540 Super LCD 2, 1.2GHz quad-core chip by Qualcomm, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage (with up to 64GB expansion via microSD), 8-megapixel imager (with f/2.0 aperture and 720p video capture), 1.6-megapixel front camera, 1,860mAh battery and NFC. Interestingly, the 608t is also listed with Zoe camera feature, yet the 606w isn't, so hopefully it's just a mistake for the latter instead of the former.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Source: HTC eShop (Chinese)
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Mobile
Via: The Next Web
It didn't take long for HTC to go official with the Desire 600. Interestingly, it picks up on several of the new Sense 5 features revealed alongside the HTC One, including its fingertip-baiting BlinkFeed for social network and news updates. BoomSound and the ability to craft video highlights from your photos and clips also make the transition, although apparently not the burst-capture Zoe mode. Hardware-wise, there's a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 quad-core processor, with a 4.5-inch Super LCD2 display (at 960 x 540 resolution), an 8-megapixel primary camera capable of up to 720p video capture and a front-facing 1.6-megapixel shooter. The Desire 600 picks up the same dual front-facing speaker setup of the One, although rather than a global appearance, it's currently headed to Russia, Ukraine and the Middle-East for now, landing early this June in white and black options. However, we've already spotted a China-bound version for China Unicom's WCDMA network, the Desire 606w, and if we're honest, we'd probably be happier to see the rumored M4 make an official showing. Now, where's that Desire 200?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Twitter Cards are meant to enhance a user's -- er, advertiser's -- tweets with relevant links and photo previews. Three such cards currently exist, but today the social network introduced a new one: the Lead Generation Card (marketing speak, much?), which essentially lets users accept discounts and provide the required personal information directly from a business' tweet. The feature is located within a brand's expanded tweet: you simply click a button, and your email address and handle are passed along. Essentially, it's autofill for Twitter, which you'll either love or hate. For its part, the site says this feature simplifies the user experience, and it promises your personal info is sent directly and securely to the company you've specified. Currently, a few brands are beta-testing the card, and Twitter says a global launch is soon to follow.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Twitter Advertising Blog
With Computex just around the corner, MSI has taken the wraps off what can truly be described as a next-gen gaming laptop. According to CNET, the 17.3-inch GT70 Dragon Edition 2 will pack a yet-to-be-announced Haswell chip alongside an equally mysterious NVIDIA GTX780M GPU that is claimed to deliver a 3DMark Vantage score of 36,000 -- in other words, roughly equivalent to the benchmark stat you'd get from a desktop rig containing an Ivy Bridge Core-i5 and a full-size GTX670, if the boast happens to be true. A SteelSeries-branded keyboard is in attendance, alongside multiple SSDs in Raid 0 config and three video outputs, all contained within a 21.8mm-thick package that weighs 2.9kg (6.4 pounds). Lesser variations will bring the weight down to 2kg (4.4 pounds) by reducing screen size to 14 inches and switching to a less frenetic GTX760M. Expect pricing and availability details once the big Taiwanese expo gets underway.
Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, Intel
Source: CNET
Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 7- and 8.9-inch slates have only seen limited shores since they were formally announced, but today the company said they're now available for pre-order in more than "170 countries and territories around the world." We could try and list all the new tablet markets, but it's easier to say that until now, they've only found spots in Amazon stores in the US, Europe and Japan. We're not surprised to see the hardware get a much wider release, given that the e-tailer revealed its plan to take the Appstore global last month. The only other nugget in the PR is an expected shipping date of June 13th. Head over to your local Amazon portal to confirm if your region is one of the lucky 170.
Update: Amazon's issued a second PR saying those international plans for the Appstore are no longer plans -- it's now up and running in "nearly 200 countries."
Source: Amazon
Google Ventures has a reputation for backing tech winners early on -- it gave a boost to this little startup called Nest, for example. It wants to exert influence every step of the way, however, and it's launching Google Capital to make this happen. The new fund is investing in firms that aren't quite so young, but are doing "amazing things" aligned with Google's interests, according to general partner Mike Pearson. While Google Capital won't make its formal debut until the summer, it has already invested in three unnamed companies; we wouldn't be surprised if we learn a lot more about the fund a few months' time.
Source: PCWorld
Lenovo's just announced its Q4 and full year 2012/13 financial results, and it's touched new highs on the two most important indices. It earned $127 million on $7.8 billion in revenue for the quarter and $34 billion for the full year, both records for the company, while netting $635 million in profit for the full year -- another all-time high. The only sore spot for Q4 was Lenovo's laptop business, which dropped two percent over last year to $4.2 billion, but that's a far milder plummet than many PC makers saw -- thanks to a 74 percent revenue growth in China. Otherwise, desktop PCs held flat for the company at $2.4 billion during an otherwise down period, and it held firm as China's number two smartphone manufacturer, seeing shipments grow at 206 percent year-over-year, double the average rate. It remains to be seen if Lenovo can continue to buck the downward PC trend that's continued unabated with the release of Windows 8 -- but if not, maybe we'd finally see some of its smartphones over here.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Lenovo
Source: Business Wire
HTC's Desire line of mid-range Android smartphones have typically used the alphabet to denote different models, but the company is now switching to numerals. At least according to a Taiwanese certification page, we can expect a Desire 200. Some leaked benchmark results also indicate that a Desire 600 will head to market.
We don't know much about the Desire 200 apart from its name. It's listed as the HTC 102e on the certification page, and there's plenty of speculation that this handset is the G2 we heard about earlier this year. It's a different story for the Desire 600: the benchmark results indicate this device sports a 960 x 540 (qHD) display with an unspecified 1.2GHz chip. The benchmark sheet also reveals this is a dual-SIM model destined for Europe. That's it for now, but more details are sure to follow shortly.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Via: Pocketnow
If you think HP's new battery-powered all-in-one is a gimmick, fear not: the company's still churning out all manner of traditional desktop towers. In fact, the outfit just refreshed its lineup with five new models, ranging from a space-saving mini to a high-end gaming rig. There's a lot to digest in the way of specs and pricing, so to keep things simple we laid out a neat list just after the break. Read on for the full break-down.
Chevy just announced pricing for its 2014 Spark EV. The all-electric compact will retail for $27,495 before incentives, such as a $7,500 federal tax credit and up to $2,500 in state and local credits. All told, you could drive the car home for less than 18 grand, and California residents will net HOV (carpool lane) access to boot. The two-door vehicle ships with a 21kWh battery pack, giving you an estimated range of 82 miles on a full charge. You can also add on DC Fast Charging capability, letting you recharge up to 80 percent in about 20 minutes at select stations. Alternatively, you can charge up using a 240-volt system in about seven hours. The car also includes Chevy's MyLink infotainment platform, the RemoteLink smartphone app and three years of OnStar service. It'll be available at select dealers in California and Oregon by mid-June.
Filed under: Transportation
With back-to-school season upon us and Intel's Haswell launch just around the corner, now's a great time for PC makers to start unveiling their summer lineups. Two weeks ago we heard from Sony and today it's HP's turn: the company just refreshed everything from its mainstream notebooks to its high-performance machines. Heck, even the pint-sized dm1 got a makeover. With the exception of that machine (now called the Pavilion TouchSmart Notebook), everything here will be offered with Haswell. There's a little something for everybody, and it's all waiting for you in a neat summary after the break. Join us as we break it down.
AMD has been willing to tease its 2013 ultra-mobile APU (accelerated processing unit) strategy through PCs like the Acer Aspire V5, but today it's spilling the beans in earnest. The headliner for many is the company's just-shipping Elite Mobility line, or Temash: the A4 and A6 designs are built for tablets, like Hondo was, but their Jaguar-based system-on-chip designs should be faster in both CPU and graphics power without a hit to battery life. AMD estimates that the Radeon HD 8280G video core in an Elite Mobility A6 is about five times faster a Clover Trail-based Atom and twice as fast as Hondo, but lasts about 45 percent longer on battery than an Intel Core i3. And that's while untethered -- that Turbo Dock feature is still in place to boost speeds by over 30 percent when a dock is around for extra cooling.
The E1, E2, A4 and A6 mainstream APUs based on Kabini, meanwhile, are all about tackling the Pentium and Core i3 chips that go into entry-level laptops. AMD reckons that the dual-core (E-series) and quad-core (A-series) parts are up to 88 percent faster overall than their ancestors, and can even punch above their weight class: the E1's Radeon HD 8000-level graphics are up to 66 percent faster than those of a much thirstier, Trinity-era A4 chip. Battery life is a specialty as well, with up to 10 hours when idle and 9 hours of web use. That's typically 2 to 3 hours more than Kabini's Brazos ancestor could manage. AMD wasn't specific on when these mainstream APUs would first ship when we were briefed, but we had the opportunity to benchmark an A4-based reference laptop. Read on past the break for the scores and some early impressions.
Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, AMD
Source: AMD
It's official: battery-powered all-in-ones you can schlep around the house are now a thing. First Sony released the Tap 20, then Lenovo followed with the Horizon and now HP makes three, with its newly announced Envy Rove 20. As the name suggests, it's a 20-inch PC you can move from room to room -- if 11.86 pounds can really be considered portable. As with other systems in its class, that IPS, 1080p display can lie nearly flat allowing you to use it as more of a tablet / twenty-first century board game machine. The difference is that there's a button to release the hinge in the back, so you don't have to pull it out by hand. Keep in mind, though, that this sophisticated design makes the Rove 20 almost half a pound heavier than the Tap 20. Sorry, you can't have it all.
On the inside, it packs a Haswell chip, with up to 1TB of storage and an 8GB SSD for caching. The built-in battery is rated for close to four hours of battery life, according to an HP rep, which would be a significant improvement over the Tap 20. Incidentally, it has both WiDi and 802.11ac, neither of which have been included on an HP all-in-one before. There's Beats Audio too (this is an HP system after all), along with a subwoofer. On the software side, meanwhile, HP's pre-installing a few board games like EA Monopoly, and there's a physical key you can use to flip the screen orientation when it's another player's turn. It'll ship sometime in July, though HP hasn't announced the price yet.
Finishing up, HP also announced two lower-end all-in-ones, the Pavilion TouchSmart 20 and 23, each of which makes use of five-point optical touch instead of a 10-point capacitive screen. Both will be available next month with a mix of 2013 AMD processors and Intel Haswell chips. The TouchSmart 20 arrives June 23rd, specifically, with a starting price of $620, while the 23 ships June 5th for $749 and up.
AMD isn't focusing all its attention on its entry-level mobile APUs today: it's also providing details for the faster Richland-based models. The new A6, A8, and A10 mobile variants fall under the Elite Performance badge, and theoretically beat Intel to the punch with up to 71 percent faster 3D graphics than the current Core i5 family. They also muster about 7.5 hours of battery life with web use, or about an hour longer than we saw in the previous generation. The roster includes both regular power (35W) and low-voltage (17W to 25W) APUs, in dual- and quad-core editions.
We're more interested in how well the chips play with other devices and software, however. Besides the face and motion gesture recognition that we've seen before, AMD touts a new take on Wireless Display with low enough latency for game sessions, support for 1080p60 video and native Miracast sharing. The Richland upgrade also introduces a new Dock Port standard that can feed both USB 3.0 and up to three external DisplayPort screens through one cable. If you like what AMD is pitching, you won't have to wait to try it -- Elite Performance APUs have already been shipping with MSI's GX60 and GX70, and other vendors shouldn't be far behind.
Source: AMD
Come next month, NTT DoCoMo users won't be the only ones to benefit from a water-resistant version of the Optimus G. Similar to the L-01E for Japan, LG has introduced the Optimus GJ for Taiwan, which carries IPX7 certification that allows for worry-free immersion in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. The Optimus GJ also carries IPX5 certification for protection against dust particles. Dubbed the E975W, the smartphone is by and large a thicker version of the Optimus G (E975). This means you'll find a 4.7-inch, 1,280 x 720 True HD IPS display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro, a 13MP primary / 1.3MP front-facing camera setup, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage and Android 4.1.2. Unlike the original Optimus G, the Optimus GJ wields a larger 2,280mAh battery and a red backing, but also lacks NFC functionality. You can expect it to hit the market next month in Taiwan, where it'll sell for NT$17,990 ($600). Hit up the source link to find additional views of the of the Optimus G -- it seems that LG has thrown a bit of a pool party to celebrate its announcement.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Via: Pocket-lint
Source: ePrice (translated)
Unless you've been living under a proverbial rock, you've at least a passing familiarity with Twitter's #Music service, and today the platform given us another reason to check it out, thanks to the addition of genre charts. When #Music launched a month ago, it provided the means to discover and hear tunes from popular, emerging and suggested artists along with those you and your friends follow. Now those discovery pages have been expanded to include ten musical genre charts (country, hip-hop, rock, etc.), plus five additional charts titled Superstars, Popular, Emerging, Unearthed and Hunted.
The Superstar and Popular charts display the most popular songs and new music that's trending, while Emerging and Unearthed are two avenues for finding lesser-known songs and artists. Finally, the Hunted chart displays music that's currently popular in the blogosphere. So, people of Twitter, go forth, use these new charts and find your musical bliss, but only on the web, 'cause the iOS app is without them... for now.
Filed under: Internet
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Twitter #Music
Music streamers on Rdio for iOS are used to getting novel features quite often -- but hey, as they say, the more the merrier, right? Keeping up with that tradition, Rdio announced earlier today it's introducing a few new tidbits to the application with version 2.2. Most notably, the app will now allow users to quickly find friends and artists via a new feature dubbed -- appropriately, no less -- Find People. Building up on the search improvements, Rdio's also added an option to easily discover a record label's top musicians and albums, which is, in part, made possible by a number of UI enhancements (like a revamped navigation menu) that were also included in this release. All that sound good? Then you shall wait no more; the goods can be found at our source, or you could always download straight from your iOS device.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Software
Source: App Store
Just as CEO JK Shin predicted, Samsung has announced its new Galaxy S 4 topped 10 million units sold in record time. That beats the 50 days it took the Galaxy S III to sell that many, a mark it took 5 months for the Galaxy S II to pass and 7 months for the original Galaxy S. Samsung has been able to crank up production and speed up worldwide rollouts for its increasingly popular flagship models, contributing to the rapidly increasing pace of sales. To help keep the sales channels flowing, Samsung also announced a few new colors on the way. Joining the existing White Mist and Black Forest models this summer are Blue Arctic and Red Aurora, followed later by Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn editions. Of course, the model many will covet is the one with stock Android announced at Google I/O, but that may depend on whether you want your customizations inside or outside.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Samsung Tomorrow Global
Although ASUS recently delivered the $150 7-inch MeMo Pad and PadFone Infinity combo device, it's been a while since a premium Android tablet graced the lineup. A recent FCC filing from the company, however, reveals an unannounced K005 model equipped with the venerable Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) SoC clocked at 1.7GHz. Further details are light, but G4Games notes that it reveals AT&T-compatible GSM, CDMA and LTE connectivity and the model number suggests a 10-inch frame. Check out the FCC filing for yourself below and rest assured that we'll fill you in when we hear more.
Via: G4Games
Source: FCC
Northrop Grumman's MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft is one step closer to serving the Navy in reconnaissance and surveillance missions, having just completed its first flight. The drone spent 80 minutes in the air, reaching an altitude of 20,000 feet. That's child's play compared to the aircraft's full potential: according to the Navy, it can soar at up to 60,000 feet and stay airborne for as long as 30 hours, due in no small part to its 130-foot wingspan. By 2015, the Triton will undergo operational testing and evaluation, and the Navy hopes to add additional aircraft to its existing fleet (currently just two strong). Check out the long-range spy plane in action just past the break.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: Defense Tech
It's certainly been a long time coming, but the latest version (2.2.1) of Twitter for Mac finally brings support for Notification Center in OS X Mountain Lion. Aside from the side-pane pings for your @replies and DMs, a number of fixes have been implemented that should stabilize your experience some more. Most notably, Growl users on Lion and Mountain Lion can enjoy receiving notifications again. The update is available directly from the Mac App Store right now, so hit the source link if you're interested.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Mac App Store
