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Chromebook Pixel review: another impractical marvel from Google
We've had a bit of a love / hate relationship with the Google Chromebook since the first one crossed our laps back in 2011 -- the Samsung Series 5. We loved the concept, but hated the very limited functionality provided by your $500 investment. Since then, the series of barebones laptops has progressed, and so too has the barebones OS they run, leading to our current favorite of the bunch: the 2012 Samsung Chromebook. In that laptop's review, we concluded that "$249 seems like an appropriate price for this sort of device." So, then, imagine our chagrin when Google unveiled a very similar sort of device, but one that comes with a premium. A very hefty premium. It's a high-end, halo sort of product with incredible build quality, an incredible screen and an incredible price. Is a Chromebook that starts at more than five times the cost of its strongest competition even worth considering? Let's do the math.
Chromebook Pixel allows for custom bootloaders, is Linux-friendly
WiFi-only flavors of the Chromebook Pixel have only just started shipping, but if you're already itching to install Linux on one of them, you're in luck. Not only have kernel patches been submitted for the hardware, but Google's Bill Richardson has now laid out exactly how to load up the devices with Linux Mint. Richardson says that part of the Chrome OS BIOS is read-only, so changes to it are generally exclusive to new hardware. Pixel, for example, has been tuned to support user-provided custom bootloaders thanks to an unverified BIOS slot. Unfortunately, Mint doesn't support the laptop's touchscreen and trackpad because it leverages the stock kernel. Adventurous types looking to boot a Tux-powered OS on a Pixel can hit the neighboring source link for step-by-step instructions.
Linux kernel patches surface for Chromebook Pixel
Google's flagship Chromebook might be a solid piece of hardware, but its prohibitive $1,299-1,449 sticker price left us aching for the ability to dual-boot a more robust operating system. Lucky for us that Google's Benson Leung has a knack for Linux -- he's already patching the Linux kernel to support Pixel's hardware. Just hours after the notebook's reveal, Leung updated the Linux kernel mailing list with patches supporting the Pixel's touchpad, touchscreen and ambient light sensor. A small step, to be sure, but one that could eventually help the community build a Linux distro that can make the most out of Google's premium hardware.
Chromebook Pixel vs. other Chromebooks: fight!
Google raised the bar considerably for Chrome OS computers with the Chromebook Pixel -- but just how badly does it bruise other mainstream Chromebooks in the ring? We won't lie: for the most part, it's an outright thrashing. While it doesn't have as big a screen as HP's Pavilion 14 Chromebook or last as long on battery as Samsung's ARM-based Chromebook, the Pixel is technically superior in most every other way. That 2,560 x 1,700 display resolution, 1.8GHz Core i5 and support for LTE put Google's PC in a different class altogether, and that's when excluding freebies like the 1TB of Google Drive storage. It's even slimmer than some of its peers. The one clear obstacle is the price -- at $1,299, you're paying six times more than you would for an Acer C7 that manages a bigger (if much slower) hard drive. As you'll see in the chart, though, being part of the premium club has its perks.
Chromebook Pixel hands-on
Taking a small stage in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, Google's Sundar Pichai introduced the Chromebook Pixel, the company's attempt to "rethink everything" in terms of laptop design. We can't say that the touchscreen notebook is a stark departure from the category's norm, but it certainly feels like a solid piece of kit. Weighing in at 3.35 pounds, the Chromebook Pixel's unibody frame looks and feels somewhat like a MacBook Pro -- flanking a comfortable chicklet keyboard and a luxuriously large trackpad with a small dip at its south end. The usual bevy of navigation and control keys headline the keyboard, and the machine's left side is populated by a Mini DisplayPort port, a power plug and two USB 2.0 plugs. The right edge houses an SD / MMC card reader and, well nothing else. The Pixel is a minimalist machine, and it both looks and feels good for the subtlety of design. The machine's real star is its 12-inch, 3:2 display. True to Google's word, the screen is gorgeous, and makes full use of that 2,560 x 1,700 resolution. Photos pop, text is crystal clear and at 400-nits, everything is stunningly bright. At first swipe, it seems to be a capable touchscreen too -- in the few minutes we had with the device, we didn't have any trouble flicking our way through Engadget's news roll, though the traditional trackpad still feels more natural at this stage. Still, everything we did was comfortable, eye-catching and rather quick, thanks, no doubt, to the Pixel's Intel Core-i5 processer. First impressions? Very solid, and possibly the finest Chromebook yet -- but at $1,299 for WiFi and $1,449 for LTE, it had better be. Skip on past the break for a hands-on video and a second hand look at the Pixel's high resolution display.
Chromebook Pixel to have integrated Quickoffice, able to open docs natively
While the Chromebook Pixel has that pretty display for looking at pictures and browsing the web, many users would probably still want to use the laptop for, like, actual work. Thankfully the Chrome team has thought of that and have developed an integrated version of Quickoffice so that you can finally open and edit office documents natively within the Chrome browser. The final app will take two to three months to ship, but that office functionality will be built-in with the Pixel (update: we've clarified this statement below). Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, said at the Chromebook Pixel event in San Francisco that this "completes the story for a lot of users" who want something a little more beyond just Google Docs. We've also learned that while the Quickoffice integration will be available initially for the Pixel, it'll eventually roll out to other Chromebooks as well via a software update. Update: To clarify, we've learned that all Pixels will ship with Quickoffice already installed. You'll be able to open and view documents on it as soon as you get it. However, the ability to actually edit those docs won't be available until two to three months down the line as they're still working on perfecting the app (the demo they had at the event failed a couple of times).
Google announces Chromebook Pixel: 1.8GHz Core i5, 2,560 x 1,700 touchscreen; WiFi model available now, LTE ships in April
Only yesterday we were being teased with the idea of a touchscreen Chromebook. Well, good news for people who hate waiting -- it's here, it's called the Pixel, and you can pre-order today. The all-Google laptop is aimed at those who live in the cloud, but want a little more from their machine. Built from the ground up for the web, the 12.85-inch 3:2 ratio display claims to offer 18 percent more vertical space than 16:9 does. The screen the Pixel has is -- as you can imagine -- one of its proudest features, sporting a 2,560 x 1,700 resolution, giving a PPI of 239, and offers a brightness of 400nit. Oh, and of course, it's touch-enabled so whatever your input preference, you're covered. On the inside, there's a dual-core 1.8Ghz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and two SSD options -- 32GB or 64GB. If that's not enough, Google's ahead of you, and is throwing in 1TB of Drive storage with every Pixel for three years -- what it expects the life of the machine to be. You won't be basing your choice just on storage though, as the smaller capacity model is WiFi only, while the 64GB comes with Verizon LTE baked right in, and a choice of plans. As for the rest of the features, the Pixel also has a triple-microphone configuration -- with one under the keyboard -- which helps improve noise cancellation, including the rattle of your typing during excited hangouts. This is also where the speakers are hidden, so it will be interesting to see how those play nice together. Other features include an "HD" camera, a custom keyboard action for less finger-fatigue, and an enhanced smooth glass trackpad. As for ins and outs, there are two USB ports, a mini displayport, a mic / headphone jack and an SD card reader -- notably, no Ethernet. Wirelessly, you have WiFi a thru n and Bluetooth (plus that LTE if you opt in). Wondering what effect that display might have on the (59Wh) battery? Well Google claims its open-source test (available for criticism online) has rated the Pixel at five hours. If you want to get yourself some touchscreen Pixel action, you can order starting today from the Play store, or Best Buy starting tomorrow. The WiFi-only model will cost you $1,299, rising to $1,449 if you want some LTE (currently US / Verizon only). Not enough info for you right there? Why not head over to our minty-fresh hands-on. Update: The WiFi model is available now from the Google Play store and will be on Bestbuy.com starting tomorrow. You'll have to wait until April before you can order the LTE version.
Google intros Chrome photo app that features full-res G+ instant upload, intelligent photo selection (update)
With that glorious high-res display on the Chromebook Pixel, it only made sense that Google released a brand-new photo app to go along with it. In collaboration with the G+ Photos team, Chrome has worked on a new Photos app from the ground up so that it's super-easy to upload, view and share your photos. All you have to do is plug in your camera's SD card into the Chromebook and it'll automatically recognize your pics and immediately start uploading your full-resolution photos to your G+ account -- turns out there's a really good reason the Pixel comes with one terabyte of Drive storage for three years. Of course, the app is designed with the touch interface in mind, and they've built in social elements like G+'s plusses and comments into the UI. What we find particularly intriguing is that the app also has intelligent photo selection. It will look through your snapshots and will try its best to figure out which is blurry or has bad exposure. When you're ready to create a G+ album of your photos, it'll automatically select what it deems to be your best shots so you can set it up instantly. We talked to a Google representative here, and she said that while the app will be available to Pixel users initially via the Chrome Web Store, it'll eventually roll out to all Chromebooks in the future. Update: We just received a few screenshots of the app and compiled them in a gallery for your perusal. Have a peek at them below.
University of Bath develops efficient vector-based video, says pixels are old hat
The pixel does the job for most digital imagery -- it sure makes for a fine shirt -- but it's not so hot for video, where growing resolutions chew up gobs of bandwidth. There may be a wiser strategy coming from the University of Bath, whose researchers have developed a more efficient approach to movie codecs. Their new format uses vectors to render footage with colored contours that demand fewer resources than a dot-by-dot approach. While vector-based rendering isn't original in itself, the researchers' method is supposedly unique in filling the gaps between the contours with the kind of visual quality a pro videographer would crave. The university team is confident enough that it's talking to major companies about using the codec for post-production tools, and sees it spreading to mobile devices where connection speeds and storage are at a premium. It could take years for vector-based video to catch on; if the technology ever upsets the pixel's reign, though, more than a few Vectrex owners may see it as poetic justice.
Cave Story dev's Guxt rated for 3DS, will include vertical display mode
As Cave Story designer Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya told us in an interview last March, he's been working on a version of his vertical scrolling shmup Guxt for the 3DS, and Nicalis, who's publishing the game, has just tweeted recently that it's been rated by the ESRB and is ready to go. You can download and play the game online for free on the PC right now, though the game will be updated for Nintendo's handheld for sure.One of the game's producers has tweeted that the title will have a "vertical display mode", so players will be able to tilt the 3DS to hold it vertically, and see the game on a correctly-aligned screen, rather than having a bar running through the middle of the action. Unfortunately, there's no word on exactly when the game will arrive, but considering it's been in development for a while., "soon" is probably the answer you're looking for. Stay tuned.
Super Pixel Bros. blocky Mario game gets renamed, hits the iPhone
Remember that super square game of Super Mario Bros. we told you about last year? Well, it looks like it's finally made it to the next level, landing on the iPhone -- albeit with a slightly less infringing name. Super Pixel Bros. has been revamped and rebranded Pixel Land, and you can download it today for $0.99. The game uses 64 pixels to create 24 levels of damsel-saving action. Demo video located after the jump.
Cave Story creator releases adorable 'Azarashi' on App Store
Studio Pixel, the one-man development studio behind the original Cave Story, has created a new game for iOS called Azarashi, available on iTunes now for 99 cents. It's an exceedingly simple game: you tap to catch three seal keychains as they fall, and your reaction times are added up to form a score. What distinguishes Azarashi from other iOS microgames is Pixel's fantastic artwork, which delights with cute seal keychains and happy cat trophies. Just don't ever tap to catch a keychain too early. It abruptly becomes less cute.
JVC's Procision, Reference Series projectors now available, replete with '4K precision'
After making their grand debut at this year's CEDIA Expo, JVC's line of Procision and Reference series projectors have finally begun marching out to market. The manufacturer announced the news this week, confirming that its array of seven new projectors are now available for purchase, with prices ranging from $3,500 to $12,000. All seven devices feature JVC's proprietary e-Shift technology, and are capable of projecting images in 3840 x 2160 resolution -- not exactly 4K, but still four times what you'll get with full HD. The Procision Series, including the DLA-X90R, DLA-X70R and DLA-X30, is geared toward the consumer market, while the Reference Series (DLA-RS65, DLA-RS55, DLA-RS4800 and DLA-RS45) is now available through JVC's Professional Products Company. For more details on pricing and availability, check out the full PR after the break. Update: So, we got a little mixed up by the poorly worded JVC press release, but it looks like only the DLA-X90R, DLA-X70R, DLA-RS65 and DLA-RS55 actually sport the company's e-Shift tech.
Deja Review: Cave Story 3D
Not even a semi-controversial visual makeover can keep me from loving Cave Story. I admit to being a bit worried upon seeing the first screens of the new 3DS remake, Cave Story 3D, developed by Nicalis in conjunction with original creator Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya. And I admit now that the new polygonal graphics lack the extreme charm of the original pixels. But Cave Story is a wonderful game on any platform, in any configuration. Those new graphics are there to sell the game to non-"core" gamers who see 2D art as archaic, and who have no pre-existing knowledge of the indie game scene or of Cave Story. The game still works with its new look. Besides, I was really, honestly impressed with the redone art in several areas. I enjoyed seeing the game reinterpreted, after seeing the original so, so many times.
'Cave Story+' now available on Mac App Store, with new content
If you want to try out the updated version of Cave Story that hit WiiWare in 2009 -- but, like, on a computer -- you can do so right this second. Developer Nicalis has released Cave Story+ on the Mac App Store. Of course, Cave Story was originally a freeware game for PC, so why buy a computer version, beyond the positive feeling of giving Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya some compensation for his delightful game? This version includes the (optional) updated graphics and music from the WiiWare release, as well as a new "Wind Fortress" level designed by Amaya, with promises of more content updates in the future. Wind Fortress is "kind of tough, but features new enemies no one has seen," Nicalis producer Tyrone Rodriguez told Joystiq. A Steam version for PC will follow soon, the press release notes. And, of course, a fully 3D remake of Cave Story -- completely different from this 2D update -- is due for 3DS in November.%Gallery-132997%
European Space Agency creates one billion pixel camera, calls her GAIA
When we hear the name GAIA, our memory automatically zooms back to the Whoopi Goldberg-voiced Mother Earth from Captain Planet. This isn't that GAIA, but it does have to do with planets. Back at the turn of the millennium, the European Space Agency devised an ambitious mission to map one billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy -- in 3D (insert Joey Lawrence 'whoa!'). To do this, it enlisted UK-based e2v Technologies and built an immense digital camera comprised of 106 snugly-fit charge coupled devices -- the largest ever for a space program. These credit card-shaped, human hair-thick slabs of silicon carbide act like tiny galactic eyes, each storing incoming light as a single pixel. Not sufficiently impressed? Then consider this: the stellar cam is so all-seeing, "it could measure the thumbnails of a person on the Moon" -- from Earth. Yeah. Set to launch on the Soyuz-Fregat sometime this year, the celestial surveyor will make its five-year home in the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, beaming its outerspace discoveries to radio dishes in Spain and Australia -- and occasionally peeping in your neighbor's window.
Cornell University's microscopic camera makes photos with mathematics
Megapixel, megaschmixel -- we're more impressed when camera tech goes the opposite way and shrinks down. A happy byproduct of his neural mapping research, Patrick Gill and his Cornell University team have engineered a cam so microscopic it could fit on the head of a pin. The lensless creation is only one 100th of a millimeter thick, looks more like a miniature CD and doesn't require any budget-breaking parts. Named after the Fourier transform that inspired it -- a mathematical operation that breaks a signal down into various frequencies -- the Planar Fourier Capture Array translates pixel components into a fleshed-out image. Creators of the tiny camera tech stress that it won't be "[taking] family portraits," but you could probably count on having this nigh-invisible sucker implanted into your brain. It's definitely one small step for man, one nano-leap of the photographing kind.
Mitsubishi creates giant OLED globe for Tokyo's museum-goers, cloud gazers
This year, Tokyo's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation is celebrating its 10th anniversary -- a milestone that Mitsubishi is commemorating with a giant OLED globe. Comprised of over 10,000 Diamond Vision OLEDs (each measuring 96 x 96mm), the six-meter 'Geo-Cosmos' installation will hang about 18 feet above the museum floor, where it will beam clouds and other satellite images at a resolution of 10 million pixels. It may not be the first curved OLED we've seen from Mitsubishi, but it's the first that could double as a pretty sick disco ball. The globe will be unveiled on June 11th, but you can head past the break for the full PR, as well as an image of the beast while it was under construction.
Galaxy S II and Galaxy S screens compared at the subpixel level (video)
One Galaxy S II review not enough for you? Hey, we understand, a dual-core phone deserves at least two goes through the Engadget test chambers. Today marks the publication of our Engadget Spanish analysis, which, among other things, compares the GSII against its forebear, the Galaxy S, at the subpixel level. Yes, we've got video capturing the improvement Samsung has made in its new Real-Stripe (RGB) pixel arrangement on the Galaxy S II's Super AMOLED Plus display over the older, less awesome PenTile RGBG layout of the Plus-deprived Super AMOLED panel. You can see it after the break or dive into the source link for a more comprehensive comparison. Non-Spanish speakers will want to jump to the 1:40 mark in the vid for all the microscopic action. %Gallery-124010%
World's biggest CMOS sensor could help doctors detect and treat cancer
Move over, Canon, because scientists at the University of Lincoln have just seized the crown for world's biggest CMOS image sensor with their new Dynamic range Adjustable for Medical Imaging Technology microchip -- or 'DyNAMITe,' for short. Measuring a hefty 12.8 square cm (or about five square inches), DyNAMITe is roughly 200 times bigger than the chips you'd find in most PCs, making it the largest imager ever made on a wafer of standard, eight-inch diameter. This extra girth allows the active pixel sensor to capture images in high detail, with a 100-micrometer pitch boasting 1280 x 1280p aligned next to a 50-micron layer, carrying 2560 x 2560p. DyNAMITe can also run at up to 90fps and withstand high levels of radiation for several years, making it ideal for medical imaging, including radiotherapy and mammography. Researchers say these enhanced images could help doctors detect cancer in its earliest phases, while allowing them to monitor radiotherapy treatments more closely. No word on when we should expect to see DyNAMITe pop up in hospitals (or a Hasselblad back), but physicists at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital are busy looking for other, potentially life-saving applications. Full PR after the break.
