We hear that before the days of modern camera calibration , broadcasters fine-tuned their pictures with giant pattered pillows. They only cost about $40 then, and they still cost about $40 now. [ funktionalley via bbGadgets ]

Feeble people of the world, rejoice, because the ” magic mirror ” will show your inner anatomy, demonstrating that below all my wine-and-tapas-induced bag of jell-o fat, there are some bones and muscles. Or so I think. It’s not Total Recall material, but a tracking system developed by professor Yoshihiko Nakamura of the Information and Robot Technology Institute and University of Tokyo’s boffins. The system can monitor and display 300 skeletal muscles thanks to 16 electromyographs, which measure the electrical impulses that govern your muscles. The magic mirror marks the muscles with different colors depending on how much they are being used, ranging from yellow to red, which means major activity. [ ]

World of Apple says March 24 is the possible date for a refresh of the entire Apple’s desktop line. We don’t have confirmation of this yet, so as always, remember our rule about rumors. Never trust them. The rumor doesn’t have any details as to what could happen, so if true, we can only speculate for now. The Mac Pro and Mac Mini are long due for a redesign. As part of PowerPC-to-Intel migration, all the computers kept their old designs during the first phase of the transition to the new hardware architecture. The idea was to maintain a sense of continuity. Then, as the Intel-based Macs proved to be a success, Apple started to change external designs. The Mac Pro and the Mac Mini are the only two computers that have not had a external redesign yet. [ World of Apple ]

Samsung’s forays into high-performance photography gear have so far been cautious (read: derivative ), but the NX series , set for an unveiling at PMA this week, is half-DSLR, half-P&S, and very interesting. The anouncement is short on details, but here’s the pitch: the NX series is a hybrid system, meaning that it doesn’t have a mirror box or a physical through-the-lens viewfinder, but retains a DSLR-sized APS-C imaging sensor and interchangeable lens capability. In other words, it’s conceptually identical to Micro Four Thirds cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC G1 . What makes the NX particularly interesting, though, is its build—it’s pretty thin . Our biggest issue with the DMC G1 was its bulk, as it was only slightly more compact than some of the smaller entry-level DSLRs like the Nikon D40, despite its shorter flange-back and lack of a pentaprism. Samsung seems to have stolen and embraced the spirit of the Micro Four Thirds, making this truly slim for a camera of its abilities. The release is set for the second half of ‘09, and specs will probably be fleshed out at PMA, which starts tomorrow. You can read the full, teasing release below: SEOUL, KOREA – March 2, 2009 – Samsung Digital Imaging Co., Ltd. used PMA 2009 as the global launching pad for the NX Series, the company’s revolutionary new family of hybrid digital cameras. A new concept digital camera, the NX Series offers the performance and image quality of a DSLR and the portability and convenience of a compact point-and-shoot. With the NX Series, Samsung will become a global leader in the new hybrid market. Samsung’s new NX Series bridges the gap between a DSLR and compact point-and-shoot digital camera by combining the benefits of both in one new model. Like conventional DSLRs, the NX Series utilizes an APS‑C sized image sensor providing a much larger surface area to gather light and produce higher-quality images than comparable digital camera systems. Unlike a DSLR, the NX Series does not feature a mirror box and employs an ultra-precise Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). The use of an EVF has allowed Samsung engineers to significantly reduce the size and weight of the new camera system by decreasing the distance between the lens and image sensor (flange back) by approximately 60% compared to traditional DSLRs. In addition to utilizing the EVF, consumers can also take advantage of the camera’s Live View functionality to frame their shots on the NX Series’ high‑resolution screen. Samsung has recently intensified its focus on the digital imaging market and established a separate company dedicated exclusively to digital imaging in Samsung Digital Imaging Company. The new company was formed to focus on the development of its digital still cameras around world’s first and best in class features, design, and easy-to-use interfaces, and will work towards achieving the company’s stated goal of becoming the world’s leading digital imaging company. “We estimate that the hybrid digital camera market will be over 20% of the global digital still camera market by 2012,” said Sang-jin Park, CEO of Samsung Digital Imaging Company. “With the release of the NX Series, a digital camera that combines the strengths of a DSLR and compact digital camera, Samsung Digital Imaging will become a global leader in the new hybrid digital camera market and achieve the company’s goal to become the global leader in the digital camera market by 2012.” Samsung Digital Imaging Company also creates a much more efficient vertical alignment between related Samsung affiliate business units including semiconductor, LCD panel and consumer electronics. This new vertical alignment will create competitive advantages for Samsung by fostering greater collaboration between Samsung affiliate business units and allowing the company to develop and deliver highly-innovative digital imaging products that set the standard for the industry, including the newly unveiled NX Series. The first model of NX Series will be available in the second-half of 2009.

Samsung’s forays into high-performance photography gear have so far been cautious (read: derivative ), but the NX series , set for an unveiling at PMA this week, is half-DSLR, half-P&S, and very interesting. The announcement is short on details, but here’s the pitch: the NX series is a hybrid system, meaning that it doesn’t have a mirror box or a physical through-the-lens viewfinder, but retains a DSLR-sized APS-C imaging sensor and interchangeable lens capability. In other words, it’s conceptually similar to Micro Four Thirds cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC G1 , though it doesn’t share their mounts. What makes the NX particularly interesting, though, is its build—it’s pretty thin . Our biggest issue with the DMC G1 was its bulk, as it was only slightly more compact than some of the smaller entry-level DSLRs like the Nikon D40, despite its shorter flange-back and lack of a pentaprism. Samsung seems to have stolen and embraced the spirit (though unfortunately, not the lenses) of Micro Four Thirds, making this truly slim for a camera of its abilities.

The Always Innovating Touch Book does something I’ve never seen from a netbook: it has a fully detachable keyboard dock and transforms from a standard looking 8.9-inch netbook, to a stand-alone tablet. Spearheaded by Gregoire Gentil, the man behind the Zonbu Desktop and Laptop , the Touch Book is his latest project, and a promising one at that. Gentil says the Touch Book’s hardware and software are fully open source and ready for modifications. While the device will come preloaded with a custom Touch Book OS, Gentil says this machine is capable of running mobile operating systems such as Android or Windows CE. The hardware I saw wasn’t quite complete—the software was demoed on a prototype, and the final hardware above were just empty shells to give an idea of the design—so I cant comment too much on how well the end product performs, but I saw enough to consider this thing more than vaporware. The Touch Book is the first netbook powered by a 600 MHz TI OMAP3 processor (built around ARM technology), 256 MB RAM, 3-axis accelerometer, an 8-gigabyte microSD card for storage and two batteries providing up to 15 hours of usage between charges. The 8.9-inch screen can display resolutions up to 1024×768 and uses a resistive touch panel.There’s also the usual offerings of 802.11b/g/n wi-fi and Bluetooth. As a standalone tablet, the Touch Book is roughly 9.5″x7″x1″ and weighs about a pound. When docked to the keyboard, it is about 1.4-inches thick and weighs 2 pounds. All of the Touch Book’s guts, except for one of the batteries, are housed in the tablet portion of the device, so that it’s fully functional while detatched from the keyboard. The chipset fits on a motherboard about the size of an index card, and is heavily optimized to get the best performance out of the hardware. Part of this involves stacking the RAM directly on top of the processor in a package on package configuration. The lid of the touchbook also pops off, so you have easy access to the hardware and it’s two internal USB ports you can use for dongles you dont want hanging off the side of the tablet. As far as software goes, the OS is based around the Open Embedded Linux platform, but fully customized for the Touch Book hardware. As such, the Touch Book has the power to handle full screen video, and render OpenGL 3D graphics. Gentil says the Touch Book can run some of the same games found on the iPhone and plans to offer them in the future. The Touch Book UI design depends on what configuration the hardware is in. When docked to the keyboard, the Touch Book uses a standard, cursor-based UI that looks like other Linux desktops. However, when in tablet mode, it uses a custom-designed, touch-based UI. The touch UI is based around spherical icons that rotate in a circular fashion as you swipe to the next one. Content is divided into three categories: web, apps and settings. On the apps side, Touch Book will ship with both Firefox and Fennec (Mobile Firefox), games that will make use of the accelerometer, plus various sorts of web and productivity apps, such as word processor and spreadsheet-type programs. Always Innovating plans to start shipping the Touch Book in late May or early June, priced at $300 for the tablet alone, or $400 for the tablet and keyboard dock combination. Pre-ordering will begin next week, and you can order the Touch Book in either red or dark grey colors. Gentil says he would also like to release future iterations that include support for GPS and 3G mobile broadband. [ Always Innovating ] NEW TOUCHBOOK COMBINES NETBOOK AND TOUCHSCREEN TABLET; PROVIDES THREE TIMES THE BATTERY LIFE AT UNDER TWO POUNDS PALM DESERT, Calif. March 2, 2009: Always Innovating today unveiled the Touch Book, a versatile new device that works as both a netbook and a tablet thanks to a detachable keyboard and a 3D touchscreen user interface. The Touch Book, previewed at DEMO 09, weighs less than two pounds as a netbook and has a battery life of 10 to 15 hours – three times longer than most netbooks. “The Touch Book is perfect for these tough economic times because you can use it in so many ways,” said Gregoire Gentil, founder of Always Innovating and creator of the Touch Book. “You can use it as a netbook computer, a hand-held game device, or a video player. You can even reverse the keyboard to prop it up on a table in an inverted ‘V’. Finally, because it is magnetic, you can remove the keyboard and put the tablet on the fridge to serve as a kitchen computer or digital frame.” The Touch Book combines the best of open source software and open hardware with a sleek industrial design by designer Fred Bould. The innovative design includes internal USB plugs. “I hate having dongles hanging from my laptop – I often end up disconnecting them accidentally – so we opted to put the USB inside,” said Gentil. The Touch Book is the first netbook featuring an ARM processor from Texas Instruments, resulting in outstanding battery life, and a fan less, heat-and-noise-free system. According to Chris Shipley, executive producer of the DEMO Conferences, the Touch Book’s innovative architecture and industrial design earned it a spot on the DEMO conference stage. “The longer battery life is a boon to netbook users. But the Touch Book’s versatility – its ability to function as a netbook as well as a standalone touchscreen tablet – makes it a breakthrough product,” said Shipley The Touch Book is expected to ship in late spring and will start at $299. Advance orders can be placed at http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/store/.

The Always Innovating Touch Book does something I’ve never seen from a netbook: it has a fully detachable keyboard dock and transforms from a standard looking 8.9-inch netbook, to a stand-alone tablet. Spearheaded by Gregoire Gentil, the man behind the Zonbu Desktop and Laptop , the Touch Book is his latest project, and a promising one at that. Gentil says the Touch Book’s hardware and software are fully open source and ready for modifications. While the device will come preloaded with a custom Touch Book OS, Gentil says this machine is capable of running mobile operating systems such as Android or Windows CE. The hardware I saw wasn’t quite complete—the software was demoed on a prototype, and the final hardware above were just empty shells to give an idea of the design—so I cant comment too much on how well the end product performs, but I saw enough to consider this thing more than vaporware

President Obama isn’t very excited about his fancy new helicopter, but that’s not his fault—he just hasn’t seen its super-neat blueprints yet, because he’s not allowed to have Limewire. Right, I’ll back up for a second. The embattled chopper(s)—under fire for their cost and alleged foreign manufacture—have been trotted out by republicans as an example of government spending spun out of control. Just as that controversy seemed to be subsiding, reports surfaced that the blueprints and avionics package for Marine One have been leaked over a peer-to-peer network, to Iran . Oops? The leak wasn’t at all intentional, unless you consider trusting technical illiterates with such sensitive material “intentional”. No, the leak happened because an employee at a unnamed defense contractor (The Register thinks it’s Lockheed) accidentally stored the files in a P2P folder, or, and this is more likely, just set his entire hard drive to share. Before long, the files had been uploaded to ~~xOsamaFanIran74x~~ and the intelligence community fell into a tizzy, all because some guy wanted to catch up on Big Love during his lunch break. In an interview with WXPI , Wesley Clark summed up the situation—and then, hilariously, the internet—for all of us: We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I’m sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went. Once it’s out there, it’s hard to get it back. I don’t think the full ramifications of this have been understood by the watchdog agencies. [ The Register ]

Check it, OC’ing freaks — ASUS is apparently planning to debut a new concept motherboard at CeBIT, the aptly titled Marine Cool. The high-end mobo is said to be “unlike any other motherboard on the market,” with the all new backplate being the showstopping feature. It’s said that the backplate features a “micro-porous ceramic” technology, which delivers quicker heat dissipation than existing alternatives. If you’re still scratching your head in a seemingly futile attempt to figure out why this matters, the new cooling tech should allow for components to handle even more extreme overclocking without having to hook up some sort of liquid nitrogen rig. One curious aspect was the decision to include dual SO-DIMM slots in place of traditional desktop-grade DIMM slots, though we don’t suspect that’ll be a deal breaker for those willing to accept sacrifices for maximum cooling. As is always the case with ASUS, there’s no indication of a price or eventual commercialization date, but hopefully we’ll get more from the show floor in Hannover. [Via HotHardware , thanks JC] Gallery: ASUS to showcase Marine Cool concept motherboard at CeBIT Filed under: Desktops , Peripherals ASUS to showcase Marine Cool concept motherboard at CeBIT originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

We’re not exactly making plans yet, but word on the street is that Apple’s planning a March 24 desktop hardware event. Both World of Apple (which has a decent track record) and a site called My Apple Guide (which we’ve never heard of but apparently has a “rough” prediction history) say the event’s on the books, and considering the age of the iMac and Mac mini and the uptick in rumors lately, it’s certainly plausible . We’ll wait until we get an official invite before we start making bold predictions, but we’re definitely hoping for a mini with at least 25 USB ports housed inside an old Disk ][ . [Thanks, iB3nji] Read - World of Apple Read - My Apple Guide Filed under: Desktops Apple planning a March 24 event? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments