We’re at Samsung’s NX-series launch event at Citi Field in Queens, NY, taking a closer look at the NX20, NX210 and NX1000 mirrorless ILCs that began hitting stores earlier today (the NX1000 will arrive in June). All three cameras are virtually identical when it comes to core components like the 20.3-megapixel Samsung-designed APS-C image sensor, so performance on that front should be consistent to what we saw with our flagship NX20 sample. From a spec perspective, these are fine shooters, but the systems’ high pricing and (relatively) limited lens selection aren’t likely to contribute to Samsung’s mirrorless success. Join us past the break for some New York Mets action through the lens of Samsung’s NX20.

Continue reading Samsung NX20, NX210 and NX1000 sample images and video

Samsung NX20, NX210 and NX1000 sample images and video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YouTube has become a treasure trove for rare live editions, outtakes and covers of popular songs — the latter making stars out of acts like Pomplamoose. However, Google and the recording industry don’t feel the same way, but the site’s famous content filtering system can only handle exact matches of recorded songs — so that 14-year-old moppet’s cover version of Born this Way remains unfiltered. That could change should a patent application made available today result in a workable product. It describes a Melody Identification system that’ll pluck out a “melody fingerprint” from any uploaded file and then determine the appropriate “rights management” to apply — which sounds ominous. The patents haven’t been granted and nowhere in the text of either document does it reveal how the company plans to deal with songs that sound very, very similar, but we can’t imagine what’ll be left if the worst comes to pass: lots of mute cat videos, probably.

Update: Josh Rice in comments pointed out that Pomplamoose actually buys the rights to its covers. That’s the nicest form of prior art there is.

Google patent application could mean melody-matching for YouTube originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re pining for another way to keep tabs on your Facebook pages while out and about, you’re in luck — that is, if you live in Australia, New Zealand or Ireland. Stealthily launched yesterday for iOS, Facebook’s Page Manager app lets administrators keep an eye on page-specific notifications and Page Insight (read: number of likes, shares, views, et cetera) in addition to the normal management fare already available in Facebook’s official app. For those in other territories dreaming of using the app, hope is not lost. As a late addition to Ireland’s iTunes’ Store after its initial appearance for Aussies, it looks like the app is following protocol by holding out on most of the world with its initial launch. As for page owners wielding other operating systems, there’s no word on when your app’s coming down the chute.

Facebook Pages Manager for iOS sees soft launch, stats junkies rejoice originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers at the Braingate2 consortium have made a breakthrough that allows people with spinal cord or stroke injuries to control robotic limbs with their minds. The original project allowed subjects with motor cortex-implanted chips to move cursors on a screen with their minds, but they can now command DEKA and DLR mechanical arms to grasp foam balls and sip coffee. Researchers noted that dropped objects and missed drinks were frequent, but improved brain sensors and more practice by subjects should help. To see the power of the mind move perhaps not mountains, but good ol’ java, jump to the video below.

Continue reading Mind-operated robot arm helps paralyzed woman have her cup o’ joe (video)

Mind-operated robot arm helps paralyzed woman have her cup o’ joe (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple looks to be stepping up the frequency of OS X Mountain Lion beta updates after initially keeping the pace slow and steady: it just posted a new, unceremoniously titled 12A206J build for developers. What the update fixes in the Developer Preview isn’t clear, but there are still glitches with Fast User Switching, Java applets, sharing menus and Notes syncing with iTunes, among a handful of other showstoppers. There’s also a major heads-up for those who own mid-2007 MacBook Pros, as they can’t properly run Mountain Lion at all until another update. We wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another fix in store ahead of WWDC next month, and there’s still all of the summer left for Apple to put the final polish on the OS and make its release target.

Apple slips out new OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion beta, leaves 2007 MacBook Pro in a momentary lurch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 01:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we’ve explained to you why sensor size matters in a digital camera, but maybe you need to take it back a bit. Maybe, you’re not entirely sure how those sensors work in the first place. Well, Bill Hammack, better known as The Engineer Guy, is here to help. After breaking down LCDs and hard drives for your amusement and education, Bill has turned his attention to the CCD. The charge-coupled device is the heart and soul of many a digital camera, turning incoming photons into a charge that the impressively complex processor inside can convert into an image. What makes the CCD so impressive is it’s rather ingenious solutions to problems such as interference (no wires, just a shift register) and color reproduction (pixel-sized filters and a hue-flattening algorithm). For more, check out the video after the break.

Continue reading The mysteries of the CCD revealed (video)

The mysteries of the CCD revealed (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eton, the name behind solar-powered sound systems and emergency radios, is updating its disaster-preparedness portfolio with the new FRX series of self-powered radios. The FRX 1, FRX 2 and FRX 3 use hand-turbine energy to keep the internal lithium ion battery juiced, and all include a glow-in-the-dark indicator, LED flashlight and DC input. While the FRX 1 offers only the basic components, the FRX 2 and 3 have solar panels for recharging, along with a headphone jack and a USB port for powering other gadgets. The FRX 3 boasts a digital alarm and radio — as opposed to the analog radio on the FRX 2 — and a display for receiving NOAA weather alerts. Eton priced the radios at $25, $40 and $60, respectively, and it’s currently selling the three options with American Red Cross co-branding at outlets such as Amazon, Best Buy and REI. Realizing your crank-powered Raptor is on its last legs? Check out the PR past the break.

Continue reading Eton anticipates next natural disaster with self-powered FRX radios

Eton anticipates next natural disaster with self-powered FRX radios originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 15:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bandwagons, trains and Tranes. Can’t say that these three have a heck of a lot in common in most regards, but one thing’s for sure: trying to stop this trio would be a Herculean task. And so it goes with laptops — once upon a time, it was good enough to have something that resembled a portable tower, but these days, the ability to even see the chassis at all feels like a negative. I exaggerate, of course, but the proverbial race in the laptop world is hardly about price; it’s about thinness. Intel’s unstoppable quest to plaster the Ultrabook term as far and wide as possible has led to a change in the way consumers are viewing portable machines, and Apple’s devilishly thin MacBook Air certainly played a role, too. What we’re left with is a very curious priority list, and I’m wondering if too many OEMs have stopped to wonder if the “obvious” is indeed the “right.”

I’ll be the first to confess that I love the look of thin. Samsung’s Series 9 and Acer’s Aspire S5 might just be two of the sexiest machines to ever be built, and Dell’s original Adamo was primarily of interest due to one thing: its jaw-droppingly thin frame. But there’s some saying about putting form before function that seems to apply here, particularly when keying in on battery life. I’ve no doubt that the marketing and research teams for PC makers far and wide understand the realities of the market place, and perhaps the average consumer really doesn’t need more than four to six hours of life on a single charge. Five years ago, squeezing that much life from machines under an inch thick would’ve required some sort of wizardry that exists only in a rarely visited corner of West Hollywood. But today, I’m a dreamer. And I’m dreaming of a laptop with “all day battery life” — something that could be screamed from the rooftops, and honestly, something that could probably be accomplished tomorrow if our laptop options weren’t on such a diet.

Continue reading Editorial: Thin laptops are the new mainstream, but what about battery life?

Editorial: Thin laptops are the new mainstream, but what about battery life? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If 3D has a future in our pockets, then it must be one that requires no spectacles. Not only are the goggles an issue, other key factors like resolution and viewing angles all need to be bettered before it stands a chance of broad adoption. NLT technology knows this, and has prototyped a 3.1-inch 3D LCD display that not only matches 2D resolution (as we’ve seen before,) but also offers up to six viewing angles. The display is based on existing horizontal double-density pixel technology with “HxDP” (horizontally x times-density pixels,) a new technology for creating multiple viewpoints, thrown into the mix. Standard HDDP gives a 3D image two viewpoints, HxDP allows more depending on density of sub-pixels. It also allows for both 2D and 3D images to be on-screen at the same time, meaning you can decide which version of Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked you prefer side-by-side.

Prototype 3D display maintains resolution, bumps viewing angles, spans dimensions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 12:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA’s announced a pair of Tesla GPUs that’ll give some extra pep to your supercomputing tasks. The K10 and K20 units harness the power of Kepler to add more muscle to the company’s scientific and technical computing arm that supplies gear to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Tokyo’s Tsubame 2.0. Internal tests reveal that the hardware is around three times faster than the company’s Fermi GPUs — with the latter card expected to arrive at the end of the year. The company didn’t announce pricing, since its aiming them squarely at the big academic institutions, defense contractors and oil explorers — but if your surname is Buffet or Abramovitch, then they might sell you one at trade.

Continue reading NVIDIA outs a pair of Tesla GPUs to electrify your supercomputer

NVIDIA outs a pair of Tesla GPUs to electrify your supercomputer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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