Archive for December 26th, 2009

We know discussing things involving “arteries” and “coronary plaque” generally don’t do much for one’s appetite, but being the holidays and all, we honestly can’t think of a more fitting way to remind you not to pig out this evening. Up first is a MEMS-based sensor designed by downright enlightened researchers at the University of Southern California, which is used to “distinguish between stable and unstable atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries.” The idea here is to more easily determine whether a patient needs immediate surgery or simple lifestyle changes in order to remedy artery issues, though the process is still awaiting clinical approval before it can be used en masse. In related news, Pathway Medical has just received European clearance to sell its Jetstream G2 NXT coronary drill overseas (or “peripheral atherectomy catheter,” as it were), which does exactly what you’d expect it to: clear clogged blood vessels in the treatment of PAD. If you’re not already grossed out, feel free to tap the links below for more information on head past the break for a couple of video demonstrations. Mmm, honey ham!

Continue reading Arterial tandem: coronary drill gets cleared for use, MEMS sensor distinguishes between kinds of plaque

Arterial tandem: coronary drill gets cleared for use, MEMS sensor distinguishes between kinds of plaque originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Apple tablet rumors are at a fever pitch, yet again. Depending on what you’ve read, it’s all but confirmed that the company’s got a January 26th event scheduled at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco, CA. All this, of course, with nary a word or comment from Cupertino HQ, and without the context that this trend has come and gone ad nauseam, both with the tablet and before with the years of lead-up to the iPhone. Here’s the latest bit: MacRumors has dug up information about a Delaware-based company, Slate Computing, LLC, that was founded in November 2006 and owns the trademark “iSlate,” the signatory of said trademark being Apple’s Senior Trademark Specialist Regina Porter. Given that Apple owns “iSlate” trademark in Europe and that it’s allegedly pulled similar stunts with a “fake” company and the iPhone trademark, sure, we could buy into this being just a dummy corporation… but does it really confirm an impending tablet that’ll be called the “iSlate?” Not at all. We wouldn’t be surprised if Apple has done this for numerous other trademarks, either to give itself more options or to prevent others from trying to manufacture products under those names. (Slate Computing, LLC also happens to own the “Magic Slate” trademark, just so you know.) Also bought up in 2006? The domain iSlate.com, which again according to MacRumors (with help form Mark Gurman of AppleRejectedMe.com) was apparently and briefly shown to be owned by Apple at some point during 2007. Food for thought, but trust us, you don’t want to confuse hearsay for concrete fact.

Which brings us to December 24th, where we see a statistically significant uptick in Apple’s stock value. Seeing as the fiscals were released back in late October along with the last refresh of hardware (Mac Pro specs notwithstanding), it seems everyone decided to spend their holiday bonuses on some Apple shares. Now, we’re not claiming to be professionals here by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems a lot of the activity here can be attributed to the recent flux of rumors. Jason Schwarz of The Street has an interesting take on it, which if you’ve got 15 minutes to kill should be worth your time to browse through.

Apple’s ‘iSlate’ and other rumors that have given its stock a holiday boost originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gadgets Weblog  |  Stock: AAPL, MacRumors (trademark), MacRumors (iSlate.com)  | Email this | Comments

The Physics arXiv Blog joined Technology Review and discussed the rules of ant traffic

17 March 2009

First rule of ant traffic: no overtaking

Ever seen an ant traffic jam? Researchers studying ant traffic are beginning to understand why

Read the full post

Frankly, we haven’t heard much noise coming from the XBMC camp in quite some time. All that changes today, as the project has just launched its latest major update in v9.11. The so-called Camelot build is now available for download on Windows, OS X and Linux, with the most notable changes including a revamped user interface, DirectX support by default in Windows, a “complete reorganization of the settings menus, automatic video information extraction, and smoother video playback.” You’ll also find updated scrapers, expanded remote control support and updated codecs. Tap that source link for the download and condensed changelog — though, we should caution you that the live installer seems to be causing issues for some, so try and stay positive, okay?

XBMC 9.11 ‘Camelot’ now available for download, huge changelog in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You didn’t think the whole Nook saga was over, did you? After just succeeding in delivering devices to expectant pre-orderers in time for Christmas, Barnes and Noble is today cleaning up yet another mess courtesy of its ill-prepared content servers. Judging by customer feedback on its support forums, it appears a glut of download requests over gift-giving day jammed the B&N net pipes and left a great many disappointed Nook users. All attempts at downloading an ebook yesterday — even by those who got their Nook a little earlier in the month — were greeted with a “Queued: Will complete shortly” message, which apparently remained that way until early this morning when downloading finally resumed functioning. The biggest perceived failure here, though, is the book retailer’s silence on the issue, which illustrates the importance of communicating with your customers — most people seemed tolerant of the setback once they realised they didn’t have faulty hardware.

[Thanks to all who sent this in]

Nook fails to communicate, download purchased ebooks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s practically zero doubt remaining that RIM has a next-generation Tour in the works, but if you’re one of those tin foil hat wearers, you’ll be glad to know that at least one of these things really, truly exists. Boy Genius just got his paws around the Tour2 9650 (shown left), and aside from the optical trackpad replacing the trackball (and the addition of a WiFi module), there’s not much new here. Oh, except that presumably quicker CPU — we’re guessing to-be owners will dig that. We’re told that the physical size is practically identical to the original Tour, and the keyboard is still phenomenal. Care to take a look? Sure you do — hit the source link for a full hands-on gallery.

RIM’s BlackBerry Tour2 9650 gets the hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not going so far as to suggest that this here patent application foreshadows the kind of keyboard that’ll be on a certain Apple tablet that may or may not be real, but if the suits in Cupertino do actually have such a device in the works, they’d be silly to not apply this technology to it. Dug up by Apple Insider, the latest app details a multitouch tactile keyboard that would boast a dynamic surface for helping typists keep track of where they’re at on the board. Essentially, the surface would utilize an “articulating frame” in order to raise and retract bumps to make typing without physical keys a wee bit easier, and while we’re certain that it would take some getting used to, it’s bound to be simpler than banging on a static surface that requires your eyes to be on it. Don’t go getting your hopes up, though — wouldn’t want to get them crushed when late January brings you an iPod touch with a camera, now would you?

Latest Apple patent app details multitouch tactile keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you have even the slightest clue what you get when you shove a perfectly operational Mac mini, JBL Spot subwoofer and WMF1 coffeemaker into a perfectly defunct iMac DV case? The iMac CS, that’s what. In one of the most bizarre and aspirational mods we’ve seen in quite some time, one Klaus Diebel has managed to combine three devices that wouldn’t typically be shoved within the same enclosure… into the same enclosure. The result is a coffee-making media server that just so happens to boast its own inbuilt sound system, or in other words, exactly what you need to start a street corner java shop.The bad news is that a customized version will set you back at least €300 ($431), but the good news is that you can probably build your own for less. Just make sure you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into before embarking — we’ve got a vague idea that this won’t enhance the lives of many.

Barista-approved mod shoves a coffeemaker, Mac mini and subwoofer into an iMac DV case originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 01:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s Christmas day, so we’re asking you to go a little easy on Peek here, but we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that our request will be cutely ignored in comments below. This week’s episode of How Would You Change features Peek’s latest handheld — you know, the one that only does Twitter. We didn’t find the creature too incredibly useful / valuable during our time with it, but that’s not to say it couldn’t be molded into a pristine object of desire. Speaking of which, how would you go about tweaking or overhauling the TwitterPeek? Make the screen resolution higher? Change the user interface? Add support for apps, email and calling? Make Peek pay you to use it? Sound off below!

How would you change the TwitterPeek? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More than two years after information about Comcast’s data delaying techniques came to light, a class action lawsuit over the issue has come to a close with a settlement of $16 million and no statement of wrongdoing from the cable giant. That means Comcast continues to tout its newer bandwidth management protocols and those of you that used Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack or Gnutella betwen April ’06 and December ’08 and/or Lotus Notes on the service anytime in the summer of 2007 can head over to the settlement website to either opt out of the class action or receive a $16 check. So is that enough cash to make up for the time wasted waiting for Naruto fansubs, Gutsy Gibbon images and the like to finish downloading?

$16 million settlement over Comcast’s P2P throttling nets the affected $16 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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