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North Carolina explores Hyperloop One system to connect the Triangle
North Carolina may be a future destination for a Hyperloop One transit system. The company and several transit partners are exploring a hyperloop that could link Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and the RDU International Airport, near the Research Triangle Park. A pre-feasibility study suggested that traveling between Raleigh and Durham or Chapel Hill (a distance of around 30 miles) could take less than ten minutes, while hyperloop corridors in the region may ease traffic.
Amazon brings one-hour Prime Now deliveries to Newcastle
Just a day after it expanded its same-day delivery service to more of the UK, Amazon has added another big city to its list of Prime Now locations: Newcastle. The Northern city joins London and Birmingham in offering Prime customers one-hour deliveries, allowing locals order up to 15,000 products including electronics, food and possible Christmas for £6.99 or for free if they're willing to wait two hours. Amazon says selected postcodes in Gateshead, Durham and Sunderland are now eligible, but you should probably check Amazon's delivery checker first before filling your online basket.
Anarchy Online's graphics engine upgrade suffers delays
Funcom has announced that two Anarchy Online developers, Genele and Macrosun, are leaving the studio and "relocating back to their homelands in Scandinavia." That's bad news for MMO gamers patiently awaiting the game's promised new graphics engine, as the devs' departures mean delays for both the upgrade and the next patch. Creative Director Joel "Nusquam" Bylos explained the situation to players on the official forum: [L]osing competent and knowledgeable people does have some impact on our development schedule, so we've had to rearrange some things and tune our schedules to make sure we can deliver on our vision for the game. Originally we were planning to patch 18.7 to live this month. We have now delayed it until we have had the chance to give it a thorough going over with the new designers. It is a large and complex patch and we want to be a hundred percent certain that we understand all of the intricacies of the patch before we make it live. Additionally, because Macrosun was the technical coordinator on the new engine, it causes some challenges on the code side. It will take our live coders some time to get themselves acquainted with the engine and all that it entails. The beta will remain up and running and we hope to get past beta status as soon as we can. Nusquam noted that Henry "Michizure" Senger will take over for Genele and that the existing live team was organized with "competence sharing" across the studio's games to minimize the impact of personnel shifts. Funcom earlier this week tweeted about new job openings in its Durham, North Carolina, location. [Thanks to tipster Divalicious Diva. Image credit: Azzura.]
Google is taking Glass on a road trip across the US, try it on in a city near you
It's still not ready to sell Glass to non-"Explorers," but Google is now at least willing to give more folks an opportunity to try it. The company announced today that's its kicking off a road trip across the US, which will see it make stops in a number of cities where you'll be able to meet some of the team behind Glass and try on the device yourself. That begins in Durham, North Carolina on October 5th, although the company isn't confirming any additional cities just yet (for the time being, it's only saying to keep an eye on its Google+ page). If you're able to make it to Durham, though, you can RSVP for the event at the source link below.
Verizon's next big LTE push coming July 21st
You can't stop Verizon's nationwide LTE push -- and even hoping to contain it seems like a bit much to ask these days. The company made its last major 4G service rollout just under a week ago, and now it's looking to do the same next month, adding a slew of new markets to its coverage umbrella and expanding in a few existing locales on July 21st. New markets include Portland, OR, Toledo, OH, Winston-Salem and Raleigh-Durham, NC, Maui, HI, Wichita, KS, and Knoxville, TN, to name a few. Coverage will be expanded in Seattle, Louisville, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. The full list of high-speed recipients can be found in the link below.
HTC confirms new research and development office in Durham, North Carolina
It's been swirling for months now, but at long last HTC has finally come forward with the official word: it'll be cracking open a new operation in the heart of North Carolina's technology hub to usher in 2011. According to the company, it'll be hiring 45 individuals at the Durham, NC-based venue, as they conduct research into "multiple areas of wireless technology, with plans to grow further during 2011 and into the future." The list of current job openings there is definitely robust, and there's little doubt that a good bit of design work will be going down just a few miles from the nearest Cook-Out. The opening of the new location marks HTC's third research and development facility in the States, with the others being positioned in Seattle and San Francisco. Out goes Sony Ericsson, in flies HTC -- fitting, don't you think?
AT&T goes live with U-verse TV in Raleigh, NC area
Be still our hearts! The rumors were indeed true, and U-verse TV has at long last arrived in the Triangle to combat the monopoly that is Time Warner Cable. A breaking report from WRAL has it that the carrier is "offering its U-verse TV service as well as high-speed internet service in the Triangle," but fails to elaborate on specific service areas. We've heard from locals that Cary, NC will be one of the first locations with access, but until AT&T issues its own confirmation, it's hard to say for certain. Obviously, those who sign up will have access to Total Home DVR from day one, and we're told that packages will start at $44 per month. Reportedly, locals can ping local retail stores or head to the carrier's website to apply for access. In related news, TWC is said to be readying more HD channels as well as Start Over functionality and a feature that "allows you to watch shows you missed, up to 48 hours after the program originally aired." Funny -- we suspected that real competition was on the way when 20 some-odd high-def stations showed up on the cable company's lineup in late October. Guess that wasn't too far from the truth.[Via The Wolf Web, thanks Dave]
AT&T eying December launch of U-verse in Cary, NC?
It's impossible to say just how legitimate all of this is right now, but the writing has been on the wall for months. We already knew that AT&T was laying down hundreds of millions of dollars for fiber improvements in the Carolinas, and we've already seen dodgy job ads and U-verse cabinets in the central region of NC. Now, we're really beginning to feel it. A number of locals in the Triangle have spotted AT&T trucks casually passing through, and upon asking, were told that U-verse services were planned for certain areas as early as December. More specifically, we're hearing that Cary, NC could be serviced first, though there's no word on when the Triangle / Triad at large would have the option to switch. And maybe it's completely coincidental, but TWC managed to go a lifetime without adding a substantial amount of high-def stations in these very areas -- now that competition's (possibly) rolling into town, we're finally seeing some effort put forth. [Via The Wolf Web]
WoW Moviewatch: Walter...about marriage
World of Warcraft, T.V., and some good comedy. What more does a guy need? According to Walter, one of the characters of the ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, a new wife. Of course his marriage isn't something that most people experience (at least I hope not, I'm not there yet, but will be someday relatively soon). But no matter what and how bad his personal problems are, they get a few chuckles from me. Legs over at Machinima.com put together today's featured piece with Walter as a small gnome and Jeff Dunham as a bald human with a black beard, all set to the audio track of one of Dunham's bits. The video itself is pretty well produced, however it could use a better audio recording of the shtick. We previously featured legs when she gave another one of Dunham's characters the same treatment: Achmed the Dead Terrorist. This video is pretty safe for work, but that might depend on where you work – it's nothing that you wouldn't hear on Letterman. So you should be safe. One of the things that caught my attention in this most was the hand gestures and movements that Legs has Walter doing. They're very much like what Dunham has him do during his shows. Right down to the shoulder rolls.
Big Ten Network coming to TWC in the Carolinas, Raleigh / Durham included
It's with a heart full of enthusiasm and a mind full of frustration that we share with you Time Warner Cable's latest addition to its Carolinas lineup. After landing a deal with Big Ten Network late last month, the carrier has announced that it will soon be launching BTN in Raleigh / Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte, Statesville / Iredell, Wilmington and South Carolina. The station will be available in both SD and HD flavors on different slots based on location (details are in the read link), and we're told to expect it on the air this Thursday. Sure, we'll take any high-def station we can get here in the Tar Heel Wolfpack state, but we still feel the operator owes us a few more given the absurd prices it feels fine with charging. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family][Thanks, Justin]
Craigslist ad hints at U-verse in Raleigh / Durham, NC
Just over a year ago, we heard that AT&T would be sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into the Carolinas in an attempt to "upgrade its fiber network, further broadband deployment, and deliver internet-based technologies to customers in North Carolina and South Carolina." Now, we're beginning to see signs of life. According to this nondescript job posting on Craigslist, AT&T is scouting residential field agents specifically for U-verse in the Raleigh / Durham, NC region. Sure, this could very well be a hoax of some strange kind, but we can't possibly be more hopeful that it's not. Hey TWC -- is this enough to get you to add a few HD channels to your absolutely abysmal selection in the Triangle?[Thanks, Jonathan]
TWC gets official with Navigator rollout in Raleigh, NC: hands-on
Our hopes fears are true: Time Warner Cable is indeed initiating a rollout of its new Navigator interface -- at least in the greater Raleigh / Durham, North Carolina region, anyway. According to a note sent out to select subscribers in the area, it's only a matter of time before their set-top-box also becomes overcome with the Navigator. As beautiful as it may look, however, the UI is quite dreadful in actual use. Screen changes are noticeably slower, unmodifiable fade effects are utterly annoying and the black flash that occurs each time you activate / deactivate the menu screen could certainly stand to be omitted. Of course, there are a few additional Parental Control features, but really, we're finding a lot more negatives than positives in the upgrade. How do you see things, dear TWC customers? Are you digging the new Navigator? Do you despise it? Chime in below! [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family][Thanks, krithren] %Gallery-21917%
Time Warner Cable adds trio of new HD channels in Raleigh area
Time Warner Cable (partly owned by Time Warner, parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget) has historically been a bit slow to add channels in the Raleigh area, but those situated in the Triangle area of North Carolina now have three additional HD options to enjoy over the break. As of now, TWC customers in and around Raleigh have access to National Geographic HD, HGTV HD and Food Network HD, which can be located on channels 279, 277 and 278, respectively. Also of note, the trifecta is broadcasting now to Wilmington customers as well on channels 968, 966 and 967.
Durham police department in trouble over 1080p DLP HDTV purchase
Usually, congratulations are in order after you purchase a new HDTV, but not so for the Durham Police Department. In need of a replacement for a dead $800 TV, they decided on a 52-inch Mitsubishi DLP for a little over $2,000. From the information available, it looks like they picked up the 1080p WD-52631 with 6-color wheel and Plush1080p image processing for upconverting lower-res signals, at a decent price for the model. The timing of the purchase is what's raising eybrows, while Durham's City Council is reviewing the budget and considering a possible tax increase. We think if they invited the taxpayers over for a little Xbox 360, HD DVD or Blu-ray action all this would blow over and they would realize how totally necessary this equipment is.
