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Visualized: HP's all-in-one PCs over the years, one from 1983
HP's TouchSmart sub-brand and its other AIOs should be no stranger to many PC advocates, but in case you've never come across one before, the company's laid all of them out on one side of its Global Influencer Summit in Shanghai. Models range from the TouchSmart IQ770 launched back in 2007, all the way to the recently shipped Z1 workstation and even the just-announced t410 Smart Zero Client; but the real gem of the booth is that little beige HP 150 right in the middle -- it's one of the first-ever touchscreen PCs, dating back to 1983, powered by an 8MHz Intel 8088 chip, ran MS-DOS and cost a mere $3,995. Whilst on the topic, HP's Vice President of Industrial Design Stacy Wolff shared some interesting stats: his team found that much like laptops, there are very different screen size preferences across different regions, with the US showing strong interest in 20-inch and 23-inch HP AIOs, whereas China much prefers 20-inch over 21.5-inch and 23-inch. With the big jump in AIO market penetration in each region between 2008 to 2012 (almost doubled in Japan and the US; and an even bigger leap for other markets), HP predicts that these machines will continue to steadily increase market penetration across more price points -- this was illustrated with what it conveniently calls the "AIO wedge" on a chart. Feel free to take a gander at our gallery for more tidbits.
Visualized: Second-gen Samsung Series 9 gets torn down to its ultra-slim components
Chances are you're no stranger to the Samsung Series 9 -- the first generation stood out for its slimness, and the most current version is an impressive 28 percent thinner. If you're wondering how those notebooks can be so dang skinny, your curiosity will be satisfied by Samsung's teardown of a 13-inch model. A thinner LCD and a customized main board contribute to the machine's slight profile, as do a 40 percent slimmer touchpad and a built-in lithium-polymer battery. As is so often the case, the pictures speak much louder than words, so hop over to Samsung's blog for a gander.
Visualized: Apple and Samsung occupy the 99 percent... of phone profits
Financial maven and maker of beautiful graphs Horace Dediu has found that between the top eight mobile phone vendors, Apple and Samsung share 99 percent of the total spoils. Of RIM, LG, Sony (Ericsson), Motorola, Nokia and HTC, only the latter made a profit -- claiming that left over one percent. The remaining six all recorded losses for the quarter, Mr. Deidu adding that several of those companies are carrying feature phone businesses that they should shed before they become an albatross around their neck.
Visualized: Shopping bag crash helmet protects your head, not your image (video)
The Grappa is a tote-style shopping bag that you can wear on your head (once it's empty) during a natural disaster. It's less insane than it sounds, because the base of the bag is made from the same EPS foam found in hard-hats, and is rated to cope with falling debris at least as well as similar emergency hoods already on the market. Constructed with the cheapest materials possible, each unit costs around 1,000 Yen ($12) with the hope that companies will buy them, slap a logo on the side and hand them out as a promotional tool that could save plenty of lives. Bet you feel guilty for laughing at the picture now, don't you? [Thanks, Don]
Visualized: new iPad burns 10 degrees hotter than its predecessor
We wouldn't exactly be going out on a limb by suggesting that the new iPad is Apple's hottest tablet to date -- even before Tim Cook confirmed as much earlier today. But while Apple has plenty of reason to brag about the device's sales figures, it's slightly less motivated to be forthcoming about its tendencies to create more heat. 10 degrees more, in fact, according to infrared camera confirmation obtained by Tweakers.net. After five minutes of running GLBenchmark, the site used its infrared cam to confirm what many of you have already suggested: the new iPad runs a little hot. According to the site's measurements, Cupertino's flagship slab reached 33.6 degrees centigrade (92.5 Fahrenheit), compared to 28.3 centigrade (82.9 Fahrenheit) with the iPad 2. That's certainly not enough heat to cause a tablet to spontaneously combust, but if you happen to be one of those new iPad owners that noticed a difference, you can now rest assured that your internal thermometer hasn't missed a beat.
Visualized: giant 'metal moles' ready to chew through London's underground
The city of London will soon have a new underground train to climb aboard, dubbed the Crossrail. But, before anyone can ride the line, tunnels will have to be dug. That means its time to break out the TBM beasts. Over 490 feet long and topping 1,000 metric tons, these giant metal moles will slowly carve new tunnels under the city at about 330 feet per week. At that rate the Crossrail won't open until 2018 but, until then, we can all sleep soundly knowing that machines -- more than thrice as tall as a man -- are slowly eating away at the largest city in the British Isles from underneath. For more images of London's mayor, Boris Johnson, standing next to the German-made monstrosities, dressed in his daddy's suit hit up the source link.
Visualized: BRD RedShift MX poses for the camera, shows off its rugged good looks
Remember our testdrive of the RedShift SM through the hills near San Francisco? Well, if that didn't get you revved up for BRD's electric duo, perhaps these new studio shots of the MX can help. The folks in Northern California have passed on a few shots of the upcoming RedShift MX motocrosser that is expected to pull into garages later this year. If you recall, BRD says this electric motorcycle performs just as well as any race-ready four-stroke 250-cc gas-powered machine and splurging for one will set you back around $15,000 -- for a base model. Go on, hop in the gallery below and take a closer look.
Visualized: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell bares all
Mercedes' electric AMG SLS E-Cell is the teutonic powerhouse's futuristic new gull-wing coupe. An electric motor stationed upon each wheel helps it develop 525 horsepower and go from 0-60 in four seconds (three tenths of a second slower than promised). Now its whipped that neon yellow body from the chassis to take us all on a tour of what lies beneath. Batteries from SK Innovations will gain charge from a similar energy recovery system to the KERS we see in F1 cars, all mounted upon a lightweight carbon fibre structure. If you're interested in taking the full tour, check out the gallery of pictures we've got for you below.
Visualized: Huawei crafts smartphone pegasus, makes no mention of quad-core horsepower (update: video)
Crafted from 1,000 (or 3,000, depending on who you talk to) smartphones, Huawei's symybol for this year's MWC proudly stands in squarely in the middle of the mobile madness. However, the chinese handset manufacturer still remains a bit of a dark horse in this year's selection of OEM fillies.Update: We've added a gallery below and a short video after the break.%Gallery-149616%Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Visualized: Nokia's 41-megapixel PureView sensor (updated with video)
If you thought a bigger pixel count just meant bigger file sizes, then take a look above. That big guy at the bottom is the 41-megapixel sensor we saw unsheathed in our hands on, and responsible for those awesome Nokia 808 PureView shots we saw at MWC on Monday. The two above it are 8- and 5-megapixel sensors respectively, and give you an idea of the real-estate cost of packing a superior snapper. At two and a half times the physical size of the N8's prized optics, we think the PureView system earns its title as the biggest thing in mobile imaging somewhat convincingly.Update: In case you're still confused, one of Nokia's chief camera experts Damian Dinning gives a thorough walkthrough of the technology in our Engadget interview. There's also a Nokia video after the break.
Visualized: iOS 2011 sales smoke 28 years of Mac
Love it or hate it, Apple had a pretty stellar 2011. According to crunched numbers from Asymco, between its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the Cupertino outfit sold some 156 million iOS devices in 2011, marking a grand total of 316 million in the mobile OS' short history. What's most interesting here, however, is the fact that last year's digits alone have completely blown past the 122 million units daddy Mac has managed in its 28 years of existence. It's no wonder the company borrowed a few tricks from iOS for its latest desktop operating system.
Visualized: futuristic AMELIA aircraft (theoretically) soars through NASA wind tunnel
It's the Advanced Model for Extreme Lift and Improved Aeroacoustics, and it's the brainchild of many, many intelligent beings planted at California Polytechnic State University. The aircraft has been in design courtesy of a grant from NASA, touting engines above the wings and the ability to achieve shockingly short takeoffs and landings. And did we mention it looks sexier than a freshly-washed 787? Yeah.
Visualized: How Verizon preps LTE and 3G services for CES
With the population of Las Vegas growing by a few hundred thousand each year during CES, cell phone carriers begin planning boosted coverage weeks before the crowds arrive. We noticed a temporary cell site parked near the Las Vegas Convention Center, and asked if we could pop in to get an idea of how AT&T, Sprint and Verizon plan to accommodate all those extra devices. The trailer we saw (often called a "bull" or "cow") was connected to a standard fiber line and serves as a Verizon LTE and 3G cell site -- one of eight added for the show -- and will be tasked with keeping thousands of devices online. We'll be using Verizon LTE along with AT&T's recently launched LTE network to bring you all of this coming week's gadget news, making these temporary sites absolutely critical to our operations as well.
Visualized: IBM's 1956 HDD packs 5MB of storage, requires forklift for installation
Check out IBM's 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) hard disk and those gripes about dragging around that USB thumb drive soon evaporate. This 1956 HDD was composed of 50 24-inch discs, stacked together and taking up 16 sq ft of real estate. The once-cutting-edge monstrosity was capable of commanding an annual fee of $35,000 and stored up to 5MB of data. Sure, by modern standards it's a pretty modest capacity, but the RAMAC still weighed in at just shy of a ton. Our technological forefathers could have done with that exoskeleton prototype.
Visualized: Where NASA's SLS will get high
We've still got quite a while to go before NASA gets back into the space travel game with SLS, but the first pieces of the potential inter-planetary transportation puzzle are starting to fall into place. The $500 million mobile launch tower of the future has already been rolled out and is undergoing structural testing at the Kennedy Space Center. You owe it to yourself to hit up the source link for some more images, including a few from atop the tower.
Visualized: Sweden's Dreamhack in pictures
What does a legion of Swedish LAN party-goers and a 120Gbps internet connection look like? Something like this. Dreamhack, officially (according to the Guinness Book of Records) the world's largest LAN party, offered up all sorts of gaming thrills along the lines of StarCraft II and Counter-Strike to the 12,000 attendees. It looks like the air was thick with excitement, perspiration -- and hopefully a little air freshener.
Visualized: International Year of Chemistry, in posters
Whatever Simon C Page sees in chemistry, we wish our high school teachers did as well. The aforesaid graphic artist has whipped up a smattering of eye-pleasing, mind-bending posters to commemorate the International Year of Chemistry 2011, and even if you can't tell your Hs from your 2s and Os, you owe it to yourself to give that source link a look. Enjoy.
Visualized: Google opens @Android Twitter, raises Ice Cream Sandwich effigy (video)
Now that Ice Cream Sandwich is officially coming our way next week, Google's statue-makers (Honeycomb, Gingerbread, Froyo) wasted no time raising an idol in its honor. Video of the ceremony is after the break, helpfully pointed out by the brand new @Android Twitter account. Give 'em a follow, won't you?
Visualized: PS Vita in eight unlikely colors, mockup game cards chill on the sidelines
We found a veritable rainbow of PlayStation Vita prototypes hiding out in the rear of Sony's TGS setup, surrounded by accessories, mock retail packaging, and faux game cards. PlayStation representatives assured us the colorful consoles were just for looks, and only the basic black will be available when the system launches in December. Hit the gallery below for a multicolored peek, or just skip past the break for a view of Gravity Daze's mockup retail box.%Gallery-134025%
Visualized: NASA's Hasselblad photography manual
Sure, that TwitPic you posted was dope, but could it ever be as snazzy as a photo taken from space? Although doubtful, now at least there's the NASA Photography Training Program handbook to help you achieve such levels of awesomeness. The guide provides tips on operating the official camera of the space agency, the Hasselblad 500 EL/M, responsible for some of the most extraterrestrial shots this side of Pluto. Pointers on how to best operate the electric film lunar surface data camera include what type of lens to use and how to best use available light. Study up at the source -- after all, privatized space travel is just around the bend.
