Before parting with $95,000 to secure a spot on the Lynx suborbital flight, you'd want to make sure the spacecraft was safe, right? XCOR doesn't blame you: it recently tested out its piston pump technology on a Triumph Street Triple motorcycle with great results. Sure, it's not the same as flying to the edge of space, but the Triumph has the same cylinder arrangement as the Lynx's liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel pumps and develops a similar amount of horsepower. It's also loads cheaper than testing in the laboratory. The bike took a 20-hour drive (the equivalent of 400 Lynx flights, according to XCOR) along Route 66 without the piston pump suffering any wear and tear. So if propulsion-related safety concerns -- and not the depth of your wallet -- were holding you back from nabbing a seat on the Lynx, you might feel a tad more inclined to whip out the plastic now. Head past the break for the full PR, plus a video of the piston-pumped Triumph in action.

Continue reading XCOR Lynx propulsion tech tests well on motorcycle, suborbital trip still pricey

XCOR Lynx propulsion tech tests well on motorcycle, suborbital trip still pricey originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 May 2012 03:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |   | Email this | Comments

Ultra-fast, Apple-only Thunderbolt technology is about to get a little less exclusive. According to CNet reports, LaCie plans to unveil PC compatibility for the 10gb/s Thunderbolt during the upcoming NAB 2012 trade show. More »

Apple patent documentation made public this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicates that the Cupertino-based company is exploring different ways to utilize the forward-facing camera on its devices. The patent, which was uncovered by AppleInsider, describes a system that could scan and detect a user’s face to unlock a device. If the user cannot be identified by the system, he or she would by asked to enter a security code, much like Google’s face unlock technology. Apple isn’t looking to use face detection to simply unlock a user’s device, however. After a user’s face is recognized, the software could be used to set pre-determined settings and launch various applications. “If the detected human face is recognized… an operation of the (device) can be modified based upon the recognized human face,” the patent application reads. “The modification can include executing a pre-defined set of operations such as opening email, opening text messages, and so forth.”

Read

Royal Canadian Mint aims to kickstart digital currency with MintChip developer challenge originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hacker News  |  MintChip Challenge  | Email this | Comments

Besides being one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, Arthur C. Clarke had a knack for foreseeing the future—at least in terms of technology. And in this clip from 1974, he predicts both personal computers and the internet. More »

Besides being one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, Arthur C. Clarke had a knack for foreseeing the future—at least in terms of technology. And in this clip from 1974, he predicts both personal computers and the internet. More »

You know that big new hard drive you just picked up? Get ready to feel bad. Seagate today is talking up the fact that it has managed to cram one terabit (that's one trillion bits, for the record) into a square inch. That super-dense storage comes thanks to heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology, a successor to the perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) being utilized in current hard drives. The manufacturer sees the technology hitting the market later this decade, "doubl[ing] the storage capacity of today's hard drives" in its wake. Just how many bits are we talking about here? Let Seagate put things into astronomical perspective: "The bits within a square inch of disk space, at the new milestone, far outnumber stars in the Milky Way, which astronomers put between 200 billion and 400 billion." More info can be found in the press release after the break.

Continue reading Seagate hits one terabit per square inch, compares self favorably to the Milky Way

Seagate hits one terabit per square inch, compares self favorably to the Milky Way originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

We're still waiting to see where HP goes with webOS, but according to the New York Times it will officially launch a cloud computing service that competes with Amazon Web Services in the next couple of months. HP Senior VP and General Manager Zorawar Singh is quoted saying the currently in beta service projects as an alternative to what Amazon has built with a focus on personalized sales and service and additional tools for third party developers, as well as a system of small data centers around the world. Throw in analytics based on technology it's obtained by purchasing Vertica and Autonomy, and maybe Meg Whitman's ship has something here, but we'll wait until the next Netflix is running its operations from this cloud before declaring it on the same level.

HP readying competitor for Amazon's cloud computing, plans to launch soon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  New York Times  | Email this | Comments

For whatever reason, QR codes still haven't died. Near Field Communication is far superior in every conceivable way, yet it's only in a small handful of phones. And apparently I'm not the only one angry about the nine lives of this insufferable technology, because some people have dedicated a Tumblr to its terribleness. More »

Here's the thing about the emissions which cause global warming: You can't see them. Picarro wants to use a Google Street View-like fleet of vehicles loaded with the company's technology to drive around cities measuring emissions so that the gasses can be plotted onto detailed 3-D maps. More »

Samsung on Monday admitted that it has failed to gain ground in the tablet market while Apple’s iPad continues to proliferate at an increasing pace. Speaking with reporters at Mobile World Congress, a Samsung product strategy executive stated plainly that Samsung has a lot of work to do if it hopes to gain ground with its tablet portfolio. “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market,” Samsung’s Hankil Yoon said, according to CNET. Read on for more.

Yoon seemed confident that Samsung’s new Galaxy Note would be a huge hit — he said he believes Samsung will ship 10 million 5-inch Notes — but despite its supersized stature, the Galaxy Note is still a smartphone. The executive also thinks the larger Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet will be a success, and he says original Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners will upgrade to the Note.

“The best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products,” Yoon told CNET. “We want to stay competitive in the market.” The only problem, however, is that the Galaxy Note 10.1 isn’t really a Tab 10.1 killer. It’s basically a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a faster processor and an S Pen.

We were fans of Samsung’s S Pen stylus when we reviewed the original Galaxy Note, and the technology is even better suited for a full-sized tablet like the Note 10.1. The S Pen itself might not be a big enough draw for the mass market, however, and the Note tablet doesn’t have much in the way of innovation to offer users beyond its stylus technology.

Samsung also announced its Galaxy Tab 10.1 sequel from Mobile World Congress this week, the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), and we were not impressed with that slate either. The updated version of the original Tab 10.1 is hardly worthy of the term “update,” and it even moves backward in some respects.

It’s good to know that Samsung recognizes that it has some serious work to do if it hopes to truly compete in the tablet space, but we don’t view its device announcements this week as a good start. Samsung still has a surprise up its sleeve, however, and we’re hoping it can manage some substantial specification and design updates to support what should be an amazing display in its upcoming flagship tablet.

HTC took particular care to address the widest possible range of smartphone users with its new device announcements at Mobile World Congress this year. The Taiwan-based vendor unveiled its new “HTC One” flagship brand during a press conference on Sunday, and within the initial batch of One devices lies the entry-level HTC One V. Don’t let the term “entry-level” fool you, however — this is an extremely capable smartphone that replaces the HTC Legend and can easily hold its own against other Android devices. Spec highlights include a unibody aluminum case complete with HTC’s once-signature Android chin, a 3.7-inch WVGA display, a single-core 1GHz Snapdragon S2 processor, a 5-megapixel camera with HTC ImageChip technology, 4GB of internal storage plus 25GB of free Dropbox cloud storage for two years, Beats Audio, 512MB of RAM and Sense 3.6 atop Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. While HTC hasn’t yet announced firm launch details, the One V will be released in the second quarter this year at what should be a wallet-friendly price. Stay tuned for our hands-on with the HTC One V.

Acer was on hand during Milan’s Fashion Week to show off its CloudMobile smartphone. The handset is equipped with a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720-pixel HD display, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, NFC, an 8-megapixel camera and Android 4.1 Ice Cream Sandwich. Acer’s upcoming smartphone will also be the first device to offer AcerCloud technology, which “enhances mobile productivity by providing seamless document management.” According to NotebookItalia, the CloudMobile is the “perfect object to show to friends.” The device is said to be extremely thin with smooth lines and rounded edges that give it “definite personality.” Acer was previously awarded a prestigious IF Design award for 2012, an indicator of quality and excellence in design within the industry. The CloudMobile smartphone is currently slated to launch in the third quarter of 2012. Read on for additional images.

Read

Qualcomm's next-generation system-on-a-chip is set to turn up inside consumer devices at the Mobile World Congress—and judging by its rumored speed and integrated LTE technology, it could cause quite a stir. More »

We're well aware that you may be suffering from contest withdrawls, with our Holiday Blues-Buster far in our rear-view mirror. Fortunately we're bringing the opportunity to you in a big way, as the Engadget Giveaway is now becoming a regular series! Each and every Monday we'll be offering something new, and all you have to do is enter by leaving a comment. To get us started, the MHL Consortium (that's Mobile High-definition Link, not the Mississauga Hockey League) is happy to throw the honorary first pitch by offering a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, along with an MHL adapter and cable (all valued at $700). If you haven't heard of it before, MHL technology is an audio and video interface standard that allows you to connect your mobile device to an HDTV or other type of home entertainment while doubling as a charger at the same time.

Take a moment to review the rules under the break, and leave a comment to enter!

Continue reading Engadget Giveaway: win a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, courtesy of MHL!

Engadget Giveaway: win a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, courtesy of MHL! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

RFID chips are super cool because those little buggers can beam things wirelessly. The guys at Mythbusters totally thought so too and wanted to make an episode about how trackable and hackable RFID chips were. Sounds amazing! Everyone would've learned more about the technology that's invisibly invading our lines. But, nope. Credit Card companies banned 'em. More »

Asus is reportedly working on Windows 8 laptops that are equipped with Microsoft’s Kinect technology. The Daily recently reported that it was able to “check out” two different prototype laptops that “appeared” to be made by Asus. The Kinect sensor was built into the area where a notebook’s camera would typically reside, and The Daily also noted a set of LEDs below the screen. Microsoft reportedly confirmed that the notebooks were Kinect-enabled prototypes. As The Daily points out, a Kinect-enabled notebook could allow a user to interact with Windows 8 or play games using motion controls, much like Xbox 360 Kinect users are able to do now. It is unclear when, or even if, the notebooks will ever be released.

Read