Paul Miller
Articles by Paul Miller
The Engadget Podcast, live at 7:30PM EST!
We do our best to keep you on your toes, but it appears as if you're onto us: we're doing a podcast today, at 7:30PM. It might be a little late as we wrap some of our end-of-week projects (we're trying to build a really tall tower of paper cups in the Engadget HQ den, but Nilay keeps knocking it over), but we promise you it will happen. Today. Approximately. Check out the stream and chat after the break. P.S. And don't forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone clients as well, if you're out and about and you can't join in on the Flash-based fun below. Update: It's over, but if you missed it, the regular post will be up tomorrow!
Chrome Web Store, HTML5 and the iPad: symbiosis at its best
It's all coming together, folks. It doesn't take much of a gander at the Chrome Web Store to notice a trend: some of the flashiest, most mature "apps" are actually just in-browser versions of iPad apps. And you know what else? Most of these "apps" actually run fine in Safari on the iPad. We're not sure how long Google gave developers to port their experiences over, but it seems like most of the best work had already been done in the form of HTML5 apps that were merely wrapped in app form for App Store delivery. Google's just taking things to the next logical step. Continue after the break as we expand this thesis paragraph into a number of supporting blocks of text, a few jazzy pictorial examples, and a stunning closer.
Google Cr-48 Chrome laptop preview (update: in-depth impressions!)
Well, would you look at what showed up on our frigid doorstep this morning? That's right, we are now the proud owners of Google's first Chrome OS laptop -- the Cr-48. Obviously, we ripped open the box and got right to handling the 12.1-inch, Atom-powered laptop. So, what does the thing feel like? How's that keyboard? And more importantly, how's Chrome OS looking? Stand by for our impressions, which we'll be adding in depth over the day. First impression: this thing is different. Mega update: We blew this thing out! There's that video we already showed you, along with a way deeper dive into the hardware and the OS. It's all after the break, and you'd be a fool to miss it. %Gallery-109643% %Gallery-110236%
Monster builds Daft Punk Edition Tron Headphones, unwittingly unleashes moral quandary of a generation
We can't tell, is this (and by "this" we mean the entertainment machine that is Disney / Daft Punk / Tron / Jeff Bridges, melding with the monster that is Monster, and creating a pair of $350 ultra-glossy headphones) the ultimate payoff of our childhood hopes and dreams, or their ultimate ruination and desecration? Both? %Gallery-109596%
Unreleased Alienware M17x spotted running next-gen Intel Sandy Bridge chip
Intel's full unveil of the next-gen Sandy Bridge processor line isn't due until January, but the products are already starting to leak out. The M17x is our second 17-incher (HP's dv7 being the first), and this time we've got in-the-wild shots and benchmarks to chew on. In 3DMark06 a 2GHz Core i7-2630QM machine running Intel's integrated graphics scored 15,940, while a 2.2GHz i7-2720QM with AMD Radeon HD 6900M graphics nailed a 20,155 mark, and a 2.3GHz i7-2820QM chip paired with a GeForce GTX 460M GPU did 16,957. Of course, these numbers are supremely preliminary, but it sounds like Intel's integrated graphics are (finally) starting to pull their weight, just like Intel keeps promising. Otherwise, the M17x looks to be mostly unchanged, which is probably good news for gamers, bad news for anyone hoping Alienware would pursue some new sort of "understated" design language in 2011. [Thanks, vikingrinn]
MOG hits the Chrome Web Store, cools our Flash fever with a nice cool HTML5 washcloth
We've long been proponents of subscription music, but it's always a rocky relationship: Rhapsody's excellent selection but bad app and terrible web player (you call that a bitrate?), Zune's beautiful UI but Windows-only-ness, and Spotify's continued inability to work in the US. Eventually, this particular writer drifted over to MOG, which was initially a $5 a month web-only service, best known for its high bitrate and decent selection, with a more recent move to Android and iPhone apps (including offline play) for a still-palatable $10 a month price. Unfortunately, all this time we've had to put up with the indignities of a pop-up, window-based Flash player for our main MOG experience, which crashes any browser on a Mac at least once a day -- like most Flash things on the Mac. Which brings us to today: MOG is a featured app on Google's new Chrome Web Store, and once "installed" it offers an all-new luscious, speedy, HTML5 UI for MOG. Better yet, the web app also works in Safari at mog.com/chrome. Under the hood there's still a "headless" Flash playback element for DRM purposes, but everything else is a vast improvement. The only thing that could make us happier would be some sort of exfm-style Chrome extension for adding music we discover on the web to MOG playlists. You know, as long as we're getting lifelong dreams granted like this, might as well go for broke.
Google unveils Cr-48, the first Chrome OS laptop
We've had plenty of pre-knowledge on this, but surprisingly this is our first actual glimpse of Google's new unbranded "Cr-48," the very first Chrome OS laptop. Google will distribute the laptop through its Chrome OS Pilot Program, in a sort of public beta. You actually have to apply to join the program, and there are going to be a limited number of the laptops available -- retail Chrome OS models from Acer and Samsung will be available in the middle of 2011 for the masses. Google's doing a number of little promotions to give away the devices to interested users and businesses which will provide feedback, and it looks like there's no way to actually pay money for one right now. Now, for the specs: 12.1-inch screen. Full size keyboard. Oversized clickpad. Qualcomm Gobi 3G chip for Verizon data in the US, your carrier of choice internationally. 802.11n dual-band WiFi. 8+ hours of active use. 8+ days of standby. Webcam. Flash storage. Intel Pine Trail processor. 100MB of free Verizon data. The keyboard is the one we uncovered last week, with no function keys, but a full row of Apple Keyboard-style actions. The caps lock key has been replaced with a search button, which will enrage internet trolls and screenwriters alike. Branding-wise... there is none. The "Cr-48" refers to an isotope of the material chromium, there's no logo and no design frills on the laptop itself, and it only comes in black. It seems Google is going out of its way to make it clear that this isn't a mass market device, with Chrome OS still in the beta stage, and no apparent intentions to compete with third parties in the hardware space. Still, we gotta say: we wish more manufacturers would take a page out of this no-frills book. The murdered out Cr-48 looks like pure sex to us Update: We've got a full preview and impressions of Google's Cr-48! %Gallery-109496%
Google spruces up Chrome with Instant Search from the Omnibox, other nerdy things
It's a big Chrome day for Google today, and they're kicking things off with new features for the browser itself, features that will be included in Chrome 9 when it lands. The real highlight is the addition of Instant Search to Chrome's famed "Omnibox." It works about as you'd expect: as you type a Google search you still get your regular suggestions, but you also get a full search results page loading and refreshing live as you type. Google took things a step further and actually implemented this for regular sites too: based on your typical behavior, when you start typing an address, Chrome will pull up that site for you automatically (we hope when you type "e" you'll get Engadget, instead of Google's espn.com example). The other huge improvement is "Crankshaft," which Google claims is a 2X improvement in JavaScript speed, based on what benchmark you're looking at. To put it in context, Google claims Chrome is 100X faster than IE's JavaScript performance back in 2008. Other rendering tweaks include a super fast built-in PDF reader (Google demoed the browser loading the entire health care bill in a blink), and full-on WebGL support.
Combined sales of smartphones and tablets to surpass the humble PC in 18 months, says IDC
Our supply checks say that 10 out of 10 analysts are insanely bullish about tablets -- despite the fact that there are only 2.5 competitive products on the market, and one of them only came out a month ago. So, naturally, it isn't difficult to scrounge up sales predictions that show the tablet rocketing into the stratosphere, cutting into PC market share, while also expanding the market outright to accommodate its post-PC ways. Gartner's guess is 55 million tablets next year, while IDC has a more conservative estimate of 42 million, but both predict a sharp, exponential rise in the following years, and IDC takes it one step further: 18 months from now, combined smartphone and tablet sales will eclipse the PC, it claims, with both categories hovering in the mid-400 million range. Now, that number is mostly smartphones, which isn't an unprecedented shift in and of itself -- the PC took a major hit in popularity in Japan once the kids got ahold of these newfangled phone things -- but overall it represents a shift from the open-ended, flexible, and powerful PC to the narrow, task-specific, app-driven nature of the iOS and Android kind. Or you could spin it the completely opposite way: people need phones, so they buy a nice phone. No PC death knell in that behavior, and the tablet is still a very niche product with some good PR. Either way, we'll be much more impressed with this sort of market battle when it's the tablet (perhaps with a little help from the smartbook or netbook-lite category) going up against the Windows and Mac PC head-on, without smartphones shouldering most of the load.
Netflix ported WebKit to the PS3 to enable HTML5 goodies, a dynamically updatable UI
Netflix caused a lot of head scratching in October when it started rolling out its new, disc-free Netflix experience for the PS3. Namely, different people were getting a different UI, and there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the differentiation. Well, it turns out Netflix was flexing a bit of its HTML5 muscle, rapidly testing different experiences to see which ones worked best for users, all without having to push out app updates or back-end changes to accommodate its indecision. Apparently, Netflix's engineers actually ported WebKit to the PS3 to make all this possible, and hopefully it's a sign of things to come in the HTML5 iPhone, iPad, and Android apps -- which could probably use some serious sprucing, or even a bit of scattered rapid prototyping just to relieve the monotony. It's also seems to be good news for other PS3 apps which can lean on the framework -- presumably VUDU's own HTML5-based UI took advantage of this when it landed on the PS3 in November. What we'd really love is if Sony and Google are secretly in cahoots to bring the entirety of Chrome and its couch-friendly Google TV UI with it. Hey, we can dream, right?
Fring adds Dynamic Video Quality to its video calling apps
Fring is working hard to seize on this (hopefully temporary) gap in the video chat firmament, where Google is lacking in a first party mobile video chat solution, Apple's supposedly open FaceTime standard has yet to be opened, and Skype is dragging its feet on a mobile video call implementation. We're not sure how long that will last, but until then we're happy to have Fring sprucing up its own cross-platform solution. Fring just pushed out new Android and iPhone versions of its app that include "DVQ," or "Dynamic Video Quality" for video calling. It's pretty simple: the video quality automatically (and asynchronously) adjusts to use your available bandwidth, with an emphasis on keeping the audio stream pure and uninterrupted. It might sound like a no brainer, but it's a nice touch -- particularly for folks straying from WiFi and trying their luck with carrier data. Check out a video of DVQ in action after the break.
Software keyboard pops up in webOS 2.0, dreams of a Palm slate phone flourish
A software keyboard may sound anathema to Palm, with its rich history of wonderful QWERTY keyboards, but you had to feel it was coming, what with the wild consumer adoption of slate devices and, you know, the economy these days. Well, after a short history of hints in webOS 2.0's code and a longer history of hacks, a full-on Palm-developed software keyboard has been found in shipping webOS 2.0 devices. It takes a little bit of a hack and a restart, and apparently it's buggy as well, oh and you have to use the physical keyboard to enter the Opt+Sym+K command that opens the virtual keys. Still, none of these shortcomings are going to stop us from sketching out slick, slim slate phones in our diaries, translating that understated elegance of the Pre 2 into a screen-dominated form factor with our unbridled imaginations, leaving the Pre's cramped hardware keyboard in the past as we sprint into a glorious future of tangible webOS 2.0 market share and maybe a threaded email app or something. Sorry, we're done. Check out a video of the keyboard in action while we wipe the drool off our chins.
Google eBooks is live: just in case Amazon, B&N, and Apple aren't enough
You hear about this whole e-books thing? We hear it's gonna be a pretty big deal. Google, always with its finger on the pulse of our ever-evolving digital lifestyles, has decided to take a wild stab at this nascent market, and is launching Google eBooks today. Formerly known as Google Editions, the Google eBooks ecosystem is actually a pretty grand gesture, and seems to combine most of the positives of the primary e-book contenders (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple, naturally), while skimping on the UI flourishes, in traditional Google fashion. Books you buy are stored in the cloud, with your progress synced Whispersync-style, and can be read on your choice of native Android, iPhone, or iPad apps; from your browser; or on any device that supports the Adobe Digital Editions DRM for PDF and ePub files, which includes the B&N Nook and the Sony Reader (and plenty of other devices). Google is also trading on its vast repository of public domain books, with 3 million free eBooks on offer at its Google eBookstore, in addition to traditional paid fare. It's certainly a crowded market, full of sharp elbows, but it seems Google is having no trouble adjusting.
X-37B spaceplane back on earth after 7 months of spying on us, shooting aliens
Look, we don't know what the Air Force sent the unmanned X-37B into space for, or why they didn't offer us a ride, but we're pretty sure whatever it was it was awesome. The spaceplane is now back on solid ground, and apparently it completed all of its orbital objectives during its seven month trip, which were supposedly mostly diagnostic self-tests. According to The Man, anyway. Still, we could swear we spotted some laser blast holes and a self-satisfied, Tom Cruisian smirk on the X-37B when it thought nobody was looking, which confirms all of our worst suspicions: there is extraterrestrial life, and it's totally badass, and only highly trained space fighter jockeys can save us.
Motorola planning 4G devices for Verizon, 7- and 10-inch tablets early next year
It looks like this CES could be a hot one for Motorola. Can you believe it was only a bit more than a year ago that Motorola introduced the Droid? Now it has a whole lineup of incredibly hot phones, and CES seems like a perfect time for the beating of chests in front of an industry. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha just went on record during a keynote at the Credit Suisse 2010 Technology Conference, saying Motorola will be entering the tablet space 'in the near future.' He also said that he sees both 7-inch and 10-inch tablets as viable sizes -- something that seems perfectly logical to us, and might jibe with how we initially heard of Motorola's "Stingray" tablet as a smaller device, but later heard it was a full 10-incher upgradeable to LTE. This all follow's on Sanjay's statement in September that Motorola wouldn't be joining in on the tablet space until next year, a year which is rapidly approaching. Meanwhile, Sanjay also confirmed that Motorola would have 4G devices "early" next year, which also sounds like a CES hint to us, though it might just be 4G modems and hotspots at the outset. Still, bring it on.
PlayStation Phone 'Zeus Z1' caught on video again, this time you can actually see it (update)
Wow guys, we just spotted a new video of the PlayStation Phone, codenamed Zeus Z1, and this time we get a long, loving look at the entire device -- a refreshing contrast to last time's blurry tease. In addition to appreciating just how fat this phone is, and just how real it is, you can clearly see a "PlayStation" icon, which should hopefully put to rest any doubts that this phone will actually play PlayStation games. Check out a close-up of the icon after the break. Oh, and by the way, there's no audio on the video, your computer is not broken. [Thanks, Sha] Update: There's another video! Check out a brief look at the PlayStation app after the break...
Chrome event confirmed by Google for December 7th
Well, it looks like our sources were right: Google just announced an event in San Francisco for December 7th, which promises "exciting news about Chrome." Naturally, we're expecting that to be the announcement of a Google-branded netbook that runs the Chrome OS, in addition to the launch of the Chrome Web / App Store. Interestingly, it's pretty short notice for this sort of announcement, and it's also conflicting with the D: Dive into Mobile conference which is happening a few miles north on the same day. We don't know if that's poor planning on Google's part, a sign of last minute adjustments in the product, both, or neither, but either way it's going to be a pretty exciting week!
World disappoints us once again: Japan loses 2022 3D holographic World Cup bid
Look, we don't know anything about World Cup bids. They probably have a lot to do with "infrastructure" and "taking turns" and stuff like that. But really, world? You couldn't pick Japan just this once? Japan's incredibly great 2022 World Cup bid involved projecting 3D holograms of the games live onto soccer football fields around the world, allowing folks that can't make it to Japan for the actual games to get a pretty great simulacrum, while standing next to people that look like them and are probably rooting for the same team. "I have to admit that the idea of this blows my mind away," said Japan's committee chief Kohzo Tashima. Did you get that, world? Japan was offering you 3D holographic full field broadcasts, and you just turned a cold shoulder. Congrats, Qatar, we hope you're happy with 2022, and we're sure you earned it based on whatever arbitrary metrics FIFA uses to select World Cup countries. But you'll never earn our hearts. Video of Japan's bid is after the break.
Engadget Podcast Bingo gets an app; nobody's feelings get hurt because we're all made out of rubber
Oh, sure, funny-ha-ha. There's an Engadget Podcast Bingo app available now, which lets you play a relevant game of bingo on your iPhone while you listen to Engadget, Engadget Mobile, or Engadget HD podcasts stored on your phone, or stream one live from your computer. It's full of funny jokes. But you know what the thing is about humor? Every humor thing has an element of truth in it. That's what makes it funny! But that's also what makes it hurt people's feelings. Sure, you might tap "Nilay Gets Fired" on your phone while chuckling quietly to yourself, but how do you think it makes Nilay feel? Or when someone accuses Chris of being "Paid by Apple," all Chris can think of is his poor upbringing where he didn't even have shoes to wear, and how he wishes someone would pay him for his mobile expertise. Or how when someone in chat says to somebody "can you be quiet for another 4 minutes" just because they want to fill in another bingo square. How do you think that makes that somebody, you know, theoretically, feel? How much psychic pain are you willing to cause? Go ahead, download the app, we don't mind. We're just robots, anyway.
Lineo's Warp 2 boots to Fedora on Atom in 4 seconds, MPC Data's SwiftBoot warms up embedded Linux in an instant
Alright, you caught us. We're suckers for speedy, unrealistically optimized boot times. The fine folks at Linux for Devices just highlighted two major players on the horizon: Lineo's Warp 2, which is about to launch; and MPC Data's SwiftBoot, which is now available. Both of them are less of a "boot" and more of a "wake from hibernation" sort of thing, but most of the issues are the same -- you still have to boot a kernel, whether or not you're gonna populate the system with a saved state when it's ready. Lineo is booting up Fedora Linux 12 on an Atom Z530 machine, and has just hit the 4.06 second mark -- compared to a 54.72 second "normal" boot time on the system. Meanwhile, MPC Data is going after much more of a niche, but doing it well: its SwiftBoot tech can get Linux up and running an actual application on an embedded device-ready Renesas SuperH SH7724 processor in under a second (0.982 seconds, to be precise). This one has to be seen to be believed, so check out the video after the break. Sure, it won't help you love your pokey PC or Mac any more (though Apple's doing its own work on this problem with its misnomered "instant on" feature on the MacBook Air, which wakes the computer from hibernation in a few seconds), but it's a nice glimpse of what's to come.