Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

There’s a ton of upcoming laptops and devices based around Intel’s Atom processor, and it looks like all the early interest is causing that best of all possible problems for the chipmaker: it’s gotten too many orders. Intel told the WSJ that it’s planning on producing “millions” of Atom chips this year, but that it’s “seeing better-than-expected demand” as production begins and that it’s “we are working quickly to address it.” Still, it looks like manufacturers are expecting a shortage to last for a while — ASUS predicted that supply would be constrained until the third quarter during its quarterly conference call, for example — and various Chinese trade publications have reported the same. That’s definitely not encouraging news, and with AMD’s Puma and VIA’s Isaiah nipping at Atom’s heels, Intel might want to kick things into a higher gear.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones

Check it — Gigabyte has just revealed details about a swank new user interface for its GSmart mobiles, and it has been coined Smart Touch. Sadly, multi-touch gestures aren’t supported, but it does handle dragging / dropping and gives users oodles of customization options. Comically enough, the note on the new UI actually admits that it “works like [the interface on the] iPhone,” but it claims to be superior due to its tight-knit integration and more “useful and interesting features.” Sure, alrighty. We’ll let you be the judge on this one — jump on past the break for an excruciatingly long demonstration vid.

[Via the::unwired]

Continue reading Gigabyte’s GSmart Smart Touch UI shown on video

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Ready to have your brain blown out through the top of your head? Look above — you’re staring at the heretofore unseen BlackBerry clamshell, the Kickstart. The Boy Genius snagged a handful of photos of the device (which apparently he’s known about for “a while”), and has decided to share his good fortune with the rest of the world. The phone sports a Pearl-esque keyboard, typical trackball navigation, and apparently utilizes both an internal and external LCD screen. No word on specs, carriers, or a release date, but BGR is saying this puppy is due before the end of the year. You’ll know more when we know more!

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

eldavojohn writes to tell us that Tilera has released a Linux-based development kit for their 64-core system on a chip. “The Tile64 is based on a proprietary VLIW (very long instruction word) architecture, on which a MIPS-like RISC architecture is implemented in microcode. A hypervisor enables each core to run its own instance of Linux, or alternatively the whole chip can run Tilera’s 64-way SMP (symmetrical multiprocessing) Linux implementation. An “iMesh” switching interconnect, developed by Tilera’s founder, MIT professor and serial entrepreneur Dr. Anant Agarwal, is said to eliminate the centralized bus intersection that limited scalability in previous multicore designs.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by ScuttleMonkey

I’ll be doing a demo at 11am on Saturday at Maker Faire on embroidering a circuit with conductive thread, LEDs, and a watch battery. Don’t worry if you’ve never picked up a needle and thread before; this beginner’s level demo will show you the basics of embroidery and circuits. I’m very excited to see you all there!

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Original post by Becky Stern

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

If you’ve done anything other than mash F5 (or similar) at Hercules’ website the past few seasons, you’ve likely forgotten all about that sub-$100 Mobile DJ MP3 that surfaced over a year ago. For whatever reason, the thing is just now shipping, but we suppose obnoxiously late is better than never, right? Dubbed the world’s “first wireless digital mixing mini-controller,” it’s available as we speak in black or white hues for $99.99. Release is posted in full after the jump.

Continue reading Hercules Mobile DJ MP3 finally available for $99

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Original post by Darren Murph

Original post by Brian Heater

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It rains every day and the birds won’t shut up — yeah, spring’s here, and Samsung’s celebrating by dressing up the T10 in this fetching black and purple floral number. Details are scarce, as the “La Fleur Special Edition” of the well-regarded PMP isn’t official yet, but we’d expect to see it pop up rather soonish.

[Via PMP Today]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Personally, we can only imagine what a $300,000 speaker setup sounds like. But you — we know you’re eager to pick up the Epilogue Speaker System (previous edition shown) and rub it in the faces of everyone else, right? Regardless of whether you answered that truthfully or not, Goldmund (those same cats who actually had the nerve to create a $17,000 Blu-ray player) has introduced the latest version of the aforesaid system, which will now be built specifically for integration into the Goldmund Media Room. Pretty though they may be, we have a sneaking suspicion you won’t be getting much bang for your buck with these — but then again, what do our virgin ears know, anyway?

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Original post by Darren Murph

We’re very excited about the release of the second in our line of DIY Science books, Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments, by Robert Bruce Thompson. Bob also authored the first title in the series Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders. At Maker Faire, he will be doing demos of lab experiments from the book on Saturday (1pm - 1:45pm) and Sunday (3pm - 3:45pm) at the MAKE Demo stage in the Maker Shed.

From the Maker Store:
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments
Our Price: $34.99

For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry. Learn how to smelt copper, purify alcohol, synthesize rayon, test for drugs and poisons, and much more. The book includes lessons on how to equip your home chemistry lab, master laboratory skills, and work safely in your lab, along with 17 hands-on chapters that include multiple laboratory sessions.

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset May 3rd and 4th at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, CA (Upcoming.org). It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. Buy tickets now and save, discount ticket sales end on April 25th, 2008.

If you’re in the Bay Area, or plan to attend Maker Faire add “makerfaire” to your Twitter, we’ll be giving away tickets and will have updates before and during Maker Faire!

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Original post by Gareth Branwyn

MAKE will be on G4 - Attack of the Show - The Loop: Maker Faire segment today LIVE! Tune in to see and hear a preview of all things Maker Faire before this weekend!

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Original post by Phillip Torrone

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Something’s really wrong with the world if more than a few months pass by without a new iPod alarm clock from iLuv, so we suppose everyone’s a-okay for a few more months now. Announced today, the firm has introduced its first pair of HD Radio clocks, and sure enough, one of ‘em plays nice with Cupertino’s darling. The i169 would be that player, which offers up a mostly black motif, dual stereo speakers, remote, iPod dock, AM / FM / HD Radio reception, an auxiliary input and dual alarm settings for good measure. As for the currently available i168, it provides most everything you read up there sans the iPod compatibility, but then again, it only demands $89.99. What about the i169, you ask? It’ll set you back a cool $169.99 when it lands in “early May.” Full release waiting after the break.

Continue reading iLuv kicks out i168 and i169 HD Radio alarm clocks

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

We’re still hearing reports of MacBook Air overheating woe, well after an EFI update in April that was meant to address some of those problems. While hot computers are nothing new, the MacBook Air starts shutting down cores and offloading processes when things get bad, which means users are faced with aggravating stop-start freezing until they can manage to cool the computer off — or just put it to sleep and let it “rest.” Apparently some people have traced this back to the age-old misapplied thermal grease problem, but that’s hardly a solace for the average consumer trying to convince Apple to fix this thing for them. We took a MacBook Air that was acting up into the Genius Bar and Apple claimed it couldn’t reproduce the problem, though we have heard cases of Apple replacing the computer for users. We’d be curious to know just how many Air users are having trouble, and if the X300 is experiencing anything similar, so let us know in the comments.

View Poll

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Original post by Paul Miller

Lucas123 writes “The same Xerox lab that brought us Ethernet, the GUI and the mouse has demonstrated paper that can be reused after printed text automatically deletes itself from its surface in a day. Instead of trashing or recycling after one use, a single piece of paper can be reused up to 100 times. ‘The paper contains specially coded molecules that create a print after being exposed to ultraviolet light emitted from a thin bar in a printer. The ultraviolet bar itself is very small, so it can be used in mobile printers. The technology could also be useful for network printing.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by ScuttleMonkey

Monk, a commenter on a previous post, pointed out this clip of James Taylor’s performing with ‘Slap Leather’ with his drumming machine, Big Foot. Not the most elegant device, but effective - and perhaps not what you’d expect to accompany Mr. Taylor on stage.

Related:
Drum machine, unplugged

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Original post by Collin Cunningham