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27 Aug 2010 03:19:00 GMT

Panasonic Japan has shown off six new Blu-ray DVRs this week, each with BDXL-support, meaning they can playback and record to the new three-layer, 100GB discs introduced in July. Each of the models come with HDDs and Blu-ray recorders, and will support the larger disc capacities. Three of the new players even include 3D-support, the latest trend in the industry. The DMR-BW series does not have 3D support, and the most expensive model has 1TB of HDD space on-board and comes with two digital TV tuners. That model retails for $1780. Adding 3D support and another TB of HDD space, the DMR-BWT series' most expensive model will retail for $3300. Although there are no plans for an EU or NA launch, Panasonic will begin selling all 6 models in Japan on September 15th.

27 Aug 2010 03:29:22 GMT

Showing it off at the Hot Chips conference this week, IBM has set the record for CPU with highest clock-speed, running the quad-core z196 at 5.2GHz. IBM took the crown from itself, besting the 4.7GHz hit by their Power6 CPU. The latest chip has 1.4 billion transistors on a 512mm2 board made with a 45nm manufacturing-process. The Power6 CPUs had 1.1 billion transistors. Hexus says "each core has been given 1.5MB private L2 cache as well as access to 24MB shared L3 eDRAM cache. Somewhat uniquely, the z196 also has access to a fourth layer of cache off-chip. Six of these CPUs can be installed into a multi-chip module (MCM) and will connect to each other through two controllers with a total of 192MB shared L4 cache via a 40GB per second link." Because the processors are so fast, the added level of memory is a necessity, just to make sure data runs smoothly. The chips also feature a CISC-based z/Architecture, moving away from the more common RISC ISA. IBM says the z196 will be built into the company's Z-series mainframes, and should begin shipping next month.

27 Aug 2010 04:00:22 GMT

The MPEG-LA video standards group has revealed their overhauled AVC License this week, and in a somewhat surprising move, the group has made H.264 and AVC video use on the Internet permanently royalty-free. MPEG-LA had planned to begin charging companies to use streaming H.264 in 2016 but now it will be free indefinitely as long as the viewers aren't being charged. Pay-for video, and corporate use, will require a license, which costs money. H.264 is now effectively available for HTML5 video, as well as for use within Flash containers. Google created the WebM standard to rival H.264, although most of its advantages are negated now, since both will be free and offer similar perks. MPEG-LA says that WebM violates patents and that users may eventually be forced to pay in the long term.

27 Aug 2010 04:25:55 GMT

Justin Rattner, Intel's Chief Technology Officer has said this week that power usage in the company's next-generation wireless chip will equal processors created by rival ARM Holdings, with Intel pulling away with the generation after that. Says Rattner (via Reuters): "With (our) Moorestown processor we equal them on standby power, in the next generation Medfield we will equal them on active power." "I expect us to just pull away after that because we have a fundamental technology advantage, which they don't have." Current Intel chips have been deemed "too power-hungry" for media devices and smartphones, especially when compared to ARM chips. Battery life is a make-or-break metric, especially in media players and smartphones.

27 Aug 2010 01:05:00 EDT

, Multifunction GPS watches are one thing, but those that put cycling first are likely more interested in something like Garmin's line of Edge GPS devices, to which you can now add the touchscreen-based Edge 800. That packs a 2.6-inch color display, some all new mapping options including Garmin's BaseCamp route planning and BirdsEye satellite imagery, so-called "HotFix" GPS technology to quickly acquire and maintain a signal, and support for a wide range of heart rate monitors, cadence sensors and other ANT+ devices, to name a few features. What's more, while the device won't be available until this October (for $449 or $649 depending on the bundle), it's already received a few early reviews that paint a pretty positive picture -- DC Rainmaker has even go so far as to say that the device "rocks," and that "it's everything that most cyclists have been asking for." Hit up the links below for a closer look, and head on past the break for the complete press release.

27 Aug 2010 02:39:00 EDT

This week Netgear made a battery of new product announcements related to home entertainment and Powerline networking. On the media side, the NeoTV 550 & 350 HD players look a lot like last year's Digital Entertainer Elite, minus the 500GB of internal storage and access to VOD services like CinemaNow. Both are however capable of playing a robust list of codecs in full HD from a variety of attached sources like USB, eSATA (in the case of the 550) or SD storage, as well as streaming content from UPnP, DLNA or WMP11 networks. The 550 adds in support for external Blu-ray drives and BD-Live too, all for $219, which should appeal any of the poor souls with an unused standalone drive. Three new Powerline kits -- AV 200, AV 500, and AV+ 500 -- were also announced to help consumers avoid the pain of stringing Ethernet in every direction. The entry level AV 200 appears to improve on the previous HDXB101 kit by offering the same theoretical 200mbps in addition to push button security enhancements and greener power consumption. The AV 500 kit provides the same and ramps the networking speeds to up to -- you guessed it -- 500mbps, while the "+" version throws in a pass-through filtered AC socket to avoid sacrificing precious outlets. Priced all below $200, every kit will available by mid November for all the fall home networking networking your heart could desire. Peep the galleries and PR below for further details. , Gallery: Netgear NeoTV 550 & 350 HD , Gallery: Netgear Powerline AV 200, AV 500, and AV +500

27 Aug 2010 06:56:00 EDT

, A Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV strayed into restricted airspace above Washington DC after departing Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland on August 2, the result of a software logic flaw that caused the operator to momentarily lose contact with the drone. Programmed to circle when communications are severed, the chopper failed to follow its failure protocol, instead heading twenty-three miles on a north/northwest trajectory -- which could have had serious consequences had it been equipped with 70mm Hydra rocket pods or Hellfire tankbuster missiles. Although this type of incident is rare, it is not unheard of: last September the Air Force had to take down an MQ-9 Reaper in Afghanistan when it failed to adhere to failure protocols after dropping communications with the ground. At least, that's what we'd like to believe... the alternative scenario is too frightening to consider.

27 Aug 2010 08:38:00 EDT

, Think of it as an autonomous, swarming, photovoltaic legion of seagoing Roombas (or don't, if you're easily upset). The Seaswarm project at MIT takes a thin, hydrophobic material and drags it behind a robot outfitted with GPS and WiFi for determining its location and communicating within a swarm. When deployed, the group finds the outer edges of an oil spill, and works its way into the center, coordinating the cleanup with minimal human interference. The material itself can take on twenty times its weight in oil. And yes, the whole thing is re-usable. According to researchers, 5,000 of these relatively low cost devices could have cleaned up the BP oil disaster in a month -- which is more than we can say for Kevin Costner! See it in action after the break.

27 Aug 2010 09:21:00 EDT

The last time we plugged in our Nintendo DSi to recharge it all we got as thanks was a little light. It turned on, the electrons flowed, and we continued our humble existence. Just think how much more exciting that menial act could have been if only we had this sucker. Hori's Pikachu charger accepts a DSi or DSi XL into its faux-poké ball slot and, presumably, jumps up and down excitedly as lightning bolts dance from its maniacal little fingertips to juice up your dead cell. Or, maybe it just pulls power from an AC adapter and sends it through the connector. Either way, it's certainly more exciting than most other simple charging stands we've seen but, at 3,981 yen (just shy of $50), it's also rather more expensive. , Gallery: Hori Pikachu charger for Nintendo DSi

27 Aug 2010 11:24:00 EDT

, Remember this classic from way back at CES in January? We had such high hopes for the ASUS NX90 Jq. The 18.4-inch multimedia laptop boasts dual large touchpads and was designed by Bang & Olufsen's chief designer... and that shows. This beauty also has (in case you forgot) B&O ICEpower speakers, a Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 334M graphics, and can house up to 1280GB of storage. Now, we knew this thing wasn't going to be cheap from the first time we touched it -- $2,500. However, we didn't really expect to have to wait quite so long for it to hit retail. Well, if you don't mind purchasing things on the "internet," it looks like you can actually get one at a few retailers now for about that $2,500 price. Hit up the source link if you're ready to put down some cash or if you just like to window shop.

27 Aug 2010 12:05:00 EDT

, We can't say we had too much hope that the futuristic-looking Ciclotte exercise bike concept we saw last year would ever turn into an actual product, but it looks like this is one concept that's defied the odds. Of course, it'll set you back more than ten grand, but you will soon be able to order the unicycle-style bike online, and in your choice of three different colors no less (full carbon, silver or purple). Apart from its striking design, the bike also boasts an epicycloid crank system and a magnetized main wheel to generate resistance, a steel and carbon frame, an adjustable seat and handlebars, and a few other modern amenities like a touchscreen display to adjust the settings. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look. , Gallery: Ciclotte exercise bike

27 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EDT

Amazon's third major iteration of its flagship reading device, the Kindle, comes out of the gate looking strong: the new graphite finish (just like its big brother, the Kindle DX) with a slimmer, lighter form factor, plus a bumped refresh rate for its E Ink screen. Best of all, the WiFi only and 3G readers have newly lowered prices (though they're still not exactly bargain basement level). We've spent the past few days putting the tinier Kindle through the paces to see just how much Amazon's improved it. Though the market is increasingly flooded with cheap readers, the Kindle is arguably still the leading name in the field, and Amazon is already touting the third model as its bestselling ever -- even though there are still no sales figures to be had. So, is this the best Kindle ever? Read on to find out. , Gallery: Amazon Kindle unboxing and hands-on

27 Aug 2010 15:56:00 EDT

, Well, it looks like you can finally get rid of that less-than-stable pre-alpha release of Fennec (a.k.a. Firefox Mobile) for Android -- Mozillla has just released the full alpha release for not only Android (2.0 and later), but the Nokia N900 as well. The big news with this release is an increase in "performance and responsiveness to user actions" (always a good thing), as well as two new features dubbed "Electrolysis" and "Layers," the former of which lets the browser interface run in a separate process from the one rendering web content, while the latter promises to "greatly improve performance in graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming, animations and video." You'll also get full support for add-ons, and Firefox Sync built into the browser to let you have a continuous experience as you move between devices. Hit up the link below for the download link, and for a quick video overview of what's in store.

27 Aug 2010 19:20:00 EDT

, HP only just rolled out its Mini 5103 business netbook earlier this month, but it looks like it might already be set to get an upgrade -- a newly-discovered support document on HP's own site clearly lists the new dual-core Atom N550 processor alongside the current Atom N455 and N475 options. No indication of any other changes beyond that, but this should only just be the beginning of broader rollout for the dual-core CPU -- CNET says it expects a full refresh to hit HP's consumer netbooks next month.

27 Aug 2010 21:23:00 EDT

, Ricoh's released a new point and shoot, the G700. This little camera's water and dust resistant, it will supposedly withstand a drop of up to 2 meters, and its resistant to chemicals such as ethanol and hypochlorous acid, so shooting pics of the chemically-driven, zombie-infested apocalypse shouldn't be much of a challenge. Other than that, you've got a 12.1 megapixel sensor, a 5x optical wide-angle zoom lens, a 3-inch color LCD, and password protection. You know, so the zombies can check out your shots! This baby will be released on September 10th in Japan, but as of yet, there's no word on pricing or a US release.

27 Aug 2010 19:54:30 GMT+00:00

KANSAS CITY, Aug 27 (Reuters) - US and international wheat breeders said Friday publication of the gene map of wheat could eventually help in developing beneficial new varieties, but cautioned that cracking wheat's complicated genetic ...

27 Aug 2010 20:50:23 GMT+00:00

If you're placing your bets on announcements at next week's Apple event, you'd do well to heed the predictions of my colleague Chris Breen: an update to the iPod touch seems like a sure thing. That model will also likely gain a ...

27 Aug 2010 05:41:42 GMT+00:00

Too bad there's not a reality TV show called ?America's Most Freaked-Out Tech-Company Meetings,? where you watch classic panicked board meetings. For example, when the Apple employee left an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar. ...

27 Aug 2010 00:01:48 GMT+00:00

Seventeen attorneys general wrote an open letter to Craigslist on Tuesday, requesting that the "adult services" portion of Craigslist be taken down immediately. In the letter, the attorneys general explained that ...

27 Aug 2010 06:02:21 GMT+00:00

The US Federal Communications Commission should collect more data about the nation's mobile industry in an effort to better assess competition in the space, the US Government Accountability Office ...

27 Aug 2010 06:02:21 GMT+00:00

The US Federal Trade Commission has settled a complaint it made against a public relations firm accused of using employees to pose as ordinary customers to post reviews of video games on Apple's ...

27 Aug 2010 05:01:40 GMT+00:00

Google's real-time search engine, which indexes and serves up status updates, messages and other public content from sites like Twitter and Facebook, now has its own Web address and contains new ...

27 Aug 2010 05:42:52 GMT+00:00

An artist's rendering shows the two Saturn-sized planets discovered by NASA's Kepler mission, which also found a planet sized similarly to Earth. By KENNETH CHANG Scientists working with NASA's Kepler satellite reported Thursday that they might have ...