Go on and file this one away in the folder of “awesome things that could, but won’t ever happen.” As the brilliant minds around the world figure out how to solve vicious diseases, move motorcars with peanut oil and send engineers to fix a telescope in outer space, we still can’t buy a pack of AA cells that last longer than a month or two in our favorite toy. Some call it a limit of physics, some deem it a conspiracy. Whatever the case, we’ve no doubt whatsoever that a new silicon-containing carbon material — designed by Dow Corning Toray to double the capacity of existing Li-ion batteries — won’t ever have a real impact in our lives. Of course, it’s not like any consumer would actually benefit from having a netbook battery good for 16 hours, nor would wedding photographers enjoy being able to shoot 1,000 indoor shots without cracking the battery door open on their SB-600. No — that’s just absurd. C’mon Dow, prove us wrong here.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Science

More scientific black magic promises to double Li-ion battery capacity originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 23:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen some pretty weird stuff in our years on this planet — heck, we’ve revived our own drenched Sony DAP by burying it in rice for 48 hours — but this is easily one of the most bizarre gizmo resurrections we’ve ever come across. As the tale goes, one valiant NVIDIA GPU owner apparently bit on a myth which suggested that a pinch of time in the oven (quite literally, might we add) would repair faulty GPUs that were throwing up oodles of vertical lines. After purchasing another GPU to replace his ailing 8800GTX, he figured he had zilch to lose and gave it a shot; lo and behold, the temporary warmth seemingly melted the solder points and healed micro-fractures that were causing the unwanted lines. We’ve yet to hear how his attempt at returning the new GPU went, but hey, there’s always eBay. Give the read link a look if you’re still in disbelief.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

NVIDIA GPU resurrected after 10 minutes at 425°F originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 21:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are two sides to this coin, the way we see it. On the one hand, the handful of pictures that have just popped over on UMPC Fever demo many of the features we’re expecting to see in new iPhone hardware this summer — magnetic compass, autofocus camera, video recording capability, and a battery percentage meter in the status bar. On the other hand, having a good feel for those rumored features makes it that much easier to mock up ridiculously blurry shots of ‘em in action. The compass seems a little overdone, but then again, it’s not necessarily out of place considering the direction Apple has taken its voice recorder app in 3.0, so we’re going to play the cautiously optimistic diplomat here and say these could very well be real.

Update: We’ve swapped the top pic and added some larger, clearer looks after the break. It’s possible that we might be looking at two new variants of iPhone hardware here. Note the difference in styling between the phone on the right and the phone on the left? Well, if we’re to believe what we’ve heard about the future of the line, these could be the first photos of what Apple has in store for WWDC. The model on the right might easily be that matte version we’ve heard about… but that thing on the left? We have no idea, though it would be an insane move on a counterfeiter’s part to fake something so bizarre. What we mean is: it’s almost too weird to be fake.

[Via The iPhone Blog]

Continue reading Mr. Blurrycam takes new iPhone’s features for a test drive? (updated)

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Mr. Blurrycam takes new iPhone’s features for a test drive? (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 20:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are two sides to this coin, the way we see it. On the one hand, the handful of pictures that have just popped over on UMPC Fever demo many of the features we’re expecting to see in new iPhone hardware this summer — magnetic compass, autofocus camera, video recording capability, and a battery percentage meter in the status bar. On the other hand, having a good feel for those rumored features makes it that much easier to mock up ridiculously blurry shots of ‘em in action. The compass seems a little overdone, but then again, it’s not necessarily out of place considering the direction Apple has taken its voice recorder app in 3.0, so we’re going to play the cautiously optimistic diplomat here and say these could very well be real.

[Via The iPhone Blog]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Mr. Blurrycam takes new iPhone’s features for a test drive? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 20:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not quite sure what all was wrong with the original ZEN Mozaic (Mosaic?), but evidently it demonstrated just a bit too much Mondrian. This go ’round, the ZEN Mozaic EZ300 ditches the hodgepodge of button colors and sticks strictly to pink or black, though most everything else remains the same. There’s a 1.8-inch 160 x 128 resolution display, 4GB or 8GB of internal capacity, up to 32 hours of audio playback, MP3 / WMA / WAV / JPEG file support, an FM radio tuner, a five-band custom equalizer and USB 2.0 connectivity. It’s available now for US and UK customers for $59.99 (4GB) / $79.99 (8GB). One more (big) look after the break.

[Via PMP Today]

Continue reading Creative introduces toned-down ZEN Mozaic EZ300 PMP

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Creative introduces toned-down ZEN Mozaic EZ300 PMP originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 May 2009 19:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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