Developages - Development and Technology Blog

For those of you prone to surfing dodgy sites or just browsing through the top secret files you found on a laptop discarded by some forgetful civil servant, a little privacy might be appreciated. LG Display has announced its LCD Privacy Filter Technology for laptops which essentially makes whatever is on your display unreadable to people beside you. The 14.1-inch panel, which has a usual viewing angle of up to 175 degrees, can have that angle drastically reduced to just 60 degrees by tapping the screen. Anyone more than 12ins away from you will find their snooping suddenly curtailed. An LG spokesman said: “It’s a lot better than spending 50,000-100,000 won (£20-40) to buy laptop privacy filters, which darken the screen and need to be removed whenever somebody else has to look at the screen as well. Even after the viewing angle is reduced, the brightness of the screen doesn’t change by much, which makes it convenient for the user.” Dell announced a similar ‘one-touch’ privacy technology on one of its Latitude laptops last month.-Martin Lynch [Korea Times and thanks to Akihabara for the pic] laptop security technology

Original post by nafiz

The BBC has set its sights on conquering the portable world now by making iPlayer downloads available on portable media players (PMPs). As long as the media players support Windows Media-protected content, then downloaded - not streamed - iPlayer content can be used. The content referred to is downloads as many devices are not Net-enabled. Users download the content first to a PC or laptop and then ’sideload’ - drag and drop - the file to their PMP. So far, the service has been tested on the following devices:• Sony Walkman E and S series • Archos 605 WIFI and Internet Media Tablet • Philips GoGear 52xx series • Samsung YP-P2 and YP-Q1 • Nokia N96 Anthony Rose, head of digital media technologies, BBC Future Media & Technology, commented: “If you’re buying a portable media player and would like a model that allows you to play BBC iPlayer programmes on it, we have made a web page, Where To Get BBC iPlayer, where you can get a list of the model numbers of tested BBC iPlayer-compatible devices. Those on this list have been tested by the BBC iPlayer team. BBC iPlayer may work on devices which are not on the list - if the device packaging mentions “PlaysForSure”, that’s a good sign. We’ll update the list as we test more devices.” The content for the PMPs has been encoded in an additional file format: 320 x 180 pixels 500Kbps video and 128Kbps 48KHz sampling audio in WMV file format.-Martin Lynch [iPlayer] TV bbc iplayer

Original post by nafiz

Vodafone has officially announced the Blackberry Storm for the UK and will be rolling it out next month. In the above video, Vodafone’s chief marketing manager, Frank H. Rovekamp, takes you through the key features. We had a crappy internal video from the US a few weeks back but this is a bit better and there’s even the official Vodafone ad video after the jump. The Storm is a bit of a chunky monkey but then this is a revamped business device that’s had a consumer-friendly overhaul. it boasts the first-ever ‘clickable’ touch screen, which happens to be a yummy 3.25in and has a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. The accelerometer switches the display from portrait to landscape as you turn the phone and the keyboard changes accordingly, so that those of you with bigger digits will find typing a whole lot easier. There’s a 3.2MP camera, with video capture, and music playback of audio files downloaded from your PC or off the Net. There’s no prices yet but this looks like the Blackberry you’ll want to squeeze through on expenses.-Martin Lynch . phone blackberry mobile phone

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Wearables

This won’t mark the first time the US government has looked into other means for helping soldiers communicate on the battlefield, but it’s one of the first instances where vocal cords aren’t even necessary. The US Army has recently awarded a $4 million contract to a coalition of scientists, all of which will soon start developing a “thought helmet” to enable voiceless, secure communication between comrades. In theory, at least, the helmet will boast a litany of sensors that will hopefully “lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone.” According to Dr. Elmar Schmoozer, the Army neuroscience overseeing the program, the system will be like “radio without a microphone.” Oh, and don’t think for a second that they aren’t considering civilian applications as well — passing along jokes on the boss via telekinesis? Yes, please.

[Via Slashdot]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Transportation

If you had any urge whatsoever to try to your hand at drug trafficking over water while these “weird” economic times sort themselves out, uh, you may want to reevaluate your options. The ever-so-stealthy Stiletto has come to life after tracking down a remarkably quick drug-running boat near Florida; the bad guys were cruising at 42 knots, but that comic book-esque thing you’re undoubtedly peering at above can reach speeds of up to 60 knots. The double-M-shaped hull enables it to navigate in extraordinarily shallow waters without trouble, and a plethora of sensors and radars give it all the power it needs to track down goons. Oddly enough, it’s having a somewhat difficult time finding a government agency to truly call home, but if it continues to keep the coke out of our seas, we’d say it’ll win over some hearts soon enough.

[Thanks, Laz]

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Original post by Darren Murph

palegray.net writes “Voting machines in several critical swing states are causing major problems for voters. A Government Accountability Office report and Common Cause election study [PDF] has concluded that major issues identified in the last presidential election have not been corrected, nor have election officials been notified of the problems. How long can we afford to trust our elections to black box voting practices? From the article: ‘In Colorado, 20,000 left polling places without voting in 2006 because of crashed computer registration machines and long lines. And this election day, Colorado will have another new registration system.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by ScuttleMonkey

coondoggie writes “In what may be the least astonishing news of the day, some major US companies who say they are environmentally recycling electronic waste — aren’t. Rather more startling — they are dumping everything from cell phones and old computers to televisions in countries such as China and India where disposal practices are unsafe to people and dangerous to the environment. Controlling the exportation of all of the e-waste plops on the doorstep of the US Environmental Protection Agency which is doing a woeful job, according to a scathing 67-page report issued by the Government Accountability Office today.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by samzenpus

coondoggie writes “In what may be the least astonishing news of the day, some major US companies who say they are environmentally recycling electronic waste — aren’t. Rather more startling — they are dumping everything from cell phones and old computers to televisions in countries such as China and India where disposal practices are unsafe to people and dangerous to the environment. Controlling the exportation of all of the e-waste plops on the doorstep of the US Environmental Protection Agency which is doing a woeful job, according to a scathing 67-page report issued by the Government Accountability Office today.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by samzenpus

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

On the whole, we’d say KURO plasma owners are pretty stoked about their sets. Those who’d prefer a KURO-branded LCD, however, have been waiting anxiously to hear something more from ole Pioneer for months. Thankfully, the firm has finally spoken, and while it doesn’t mention any brand / model names specifically, we can assume that those LCD HDTVs we saw emerge in Europe will be gracing US shores in mere months. During the first half of 2009, Pioneer LCD HDTVs will be loosed in North America and Asia, and unless plans change, the panels within will actually be supplied by Sharp. Might we be on the lookout for a sneak peek at CES ‘09?

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage

We had a dream back in June that America would one day be able to buy 6x BD-Rs for these 6x Blu-ray burners without relying on a Japanese importer, and today, that dream has been realized. Imation is bringing TDK Life on Record media to US soil, marking the first time 6x Blu-ray recordable (BD-R) and Blu-ray recordable double layer (BD-R DL) media has been available here. Unfortunately, this stuff is still absurdly expensive — expect to hand over $13.99 for a single BD-R in October, while a BD-R DL 1-pack will ring up at a staggering $32.99.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Pace, UK suppliers of digital TV products, have become the first company to receive an award under the new Energy Star Program.
Energy Star is voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.

Original post by Simon Perry

Fancy pants mobile multimedia player with Wi-Fi, email and a big 5″ screen.

Original post by Mike Slocombe

Filed under: Storage

It’s hard to say if we’ve ever laid eyes on a family of portable hard drives with less vigor and pizazz, but Memorex isn’t kidding around when it calls these things “essential.” Boasting nothing more than the bare necessities, the new line of TravelDrives arrives with 2.5-inch HDDs that pack 160GB, 250GB or 320GB of space. You’ll find a USB 2.0 port and a flashing LED to keep you from dozing off, and there’s even a few color options to choose from in case you’re partial to Spring Blossom, Tropic Green, Caribbean Blue or Cool Silver. At least they start at just $89.99, right?

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Storage

Although Western Digital seems to have the portable hard drive sector all wrapped up, LG’s looking to snag a bit of that market share by introducing a new line of stylish alternatives. Each member of the XD1 family possesses a 2.5-inch HDD with a SATA II interface and a USB 2.0 port, and just in case black isn’t your bag, you can expect a red wine colored version as well. For now, we’ll have to live without a price or release date, but you can look forward to units arriving in 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB sizes sometime in the future.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Shortly after the Kohjinsha SC3 was removed from the comfy confines of its packaging and exposed for all to see, said UMPC has managed to get reviewed. Initially, impressions were quite positive, as the reviewer noted that build quality was “superb,” the size was adorably small and the display satisfied all expectations. As for sheer performance, the Menlow-based rig excelled as it churned through applications with no huge lag issues; however, all that computing made the unit exceptionally warm, though it did remain quiet even when breaking a sweat. Battery life was shorter than advertised (only 2.5 hours), but aside from that, there wasn’t a whole lot to gripe about. Think it’s too good to be true? Head on down to the read link for videos, benchmarks and impressions.

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Original post by Darren Murph