Archive for June, 2009

The US International Trade Commission has ruled that some Sharp LCD displays violate a patent owned by Samsung and should be banned from being imported into the US. Although, it is probably nothing to get overly excited about.

While the ruling would effect a large segment of Sharp's product line—including Aquos. Sharp will no doubt appeal the ruling, and it is subject to review by President Obama over the next 60 days. Much like the Vizio ban, it probably won’t matter all that much in the end. [LA Times]

Be happy, bicyclists of the world, because the lasertastic LightLane personal bike path is going to be a reality soon. It’s already in the production engineering phase, as this demonstration video shows:

As you remember, Lightlane was just a very clever concept in a design competition. Apparently the response was so overwhelming from bicyclists all over the world that the inventors actually decided to make it into a commercial product.

Apart from the “super-bright red LEDs,” LightLane uses two high visibility Diode-Pumped Solid State green lasers to draw a path that “protects” the biker on the street. Yes, it won’t protect bikers as much as if it used Boeing’s missile-destroying laser, but it will be a great alert for drivers in poor lit roads. Not to talk about the psychological deterrent factor of seeing the bicyclist’s safety space marked on the asphalt. Lightlane via Coolhunting]

The newest issue of Metropolitan Home features the upstate New York home of architect Douglas Larson and his wife, Torrie. Douglas renovated the mid-19th-century farmhouse to take advantage of its basic post and beam structure — opening it up for space and light…

Douglas Larson's Swedish heritage is evident in many of his furniture and design choices — Josef Frank textiles, white-painted floors and walls, and minimal furnishings with a rustic/modern style.

For the full article and all the pictures, see Metropolitan Home: Modern Swedish Style.

(Images: Tim Street-Porter)

At long last, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 is available. The 12.1-inch, WXGA (1,280 x 800) resolution netbook, if you’ve forgotten, boasts an Intel GMA950 chipset (and will have INVIDIA’s Ion chipset as an option in September), an Intel 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 160/250/320GB HDD options, an optional 6-cell battery, Ethernet jack, WiFi, Bluetooth, three USB 2.0 sockets, an ExpressCard slot, a 4-in-1 card reader and VGA / HDMI outputs. It also has a full sized keyboard, and optional 1080p video playback. Starting price for the base model is $499. Hit the read link for the full host of options.

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo IdeaPad s12 now available originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Fed left its monetary-policy stance unchanged, reiterating a commitment to low rates and that it’ll keep buying securities as previously planned. (Statement)

The Mercado La Paloma (the Dove Marketplace) is a former sweatshop on South Grand Avenue, and is now serving as a community project aimed at supporting area small businesses, and providing the community with access to health, education, social, and arts resources.

Tomorrow, Trekking L.A., the endeavor that facilitates local adventures in our global city, launches their season of events with an evening at the Mercado, with the help of GOOD Magazine. With your RSVP you can arrive to the marketplace tomorrow evening starting at 6 and taste food from Southeast Mexico, Thailand, and Peru, hear Son Jarocho music from Vera Cruz, Mexico, make a street art installation, and, most importantly, support arts and culture programs in our neighborhoods.

Trekking LA @Mercado La Paloma
3655 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
Thursday June 25, 6-9 p.m. (RSVP online by Noon on 6/25)

Salty ice grains inside in Saturn’s outer ring point to a possible underground ocean on the moon Enceladus.

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It looks like the recession has hit Dolce Enoteca so now their offering a recession obsession deal: 50% off everything on their menu through Monday. “No coupons, no flyers… no bullshit… just great food at half price,” they said in an e-mail blast. The Dolce Group also owns the Geisha House, Bella Cucina Italiana, Les Deux and Ketchup. The latter spot is now offering half off all alcohol and appetizers during Dodger games.

The URBIA Furniture System from New York Architecture firm ORBA Architects is a modular, interior system that can be customized to include furniture, room dividers, shelving, storage and even stairs and lofted rooms. Made from ash plywood, which is both inexpensive and lightweight, URBIA allows homeowners to transform open loft spaces into multi-level homes with plenty of storage space…

URBIA was designed specifically for urban spaces that are often very expensive — allowing relatively quick and inexpensive interior architecture.

“The System is composed of hollow wood panels and cabinet units that can partition a space vertically or horizontally depending on the potential of the existing interior. These units are designed for maximum structural performance, minimum weight and ease of installation, relying on hollow 1/2” ash plywood construction and a maximum size of 2×8 feet that fits through doors and onto elevator cabs. The system can be deployed vertically to define partitions or horizontally to create loft floors by staggering the 8-foot panels to reinforce each other to a span of up to 20 feet.”

For pricing, contact ORBA Architects.

Via: Dezeen.

MORE PLYWOOD
• Plywood in a Parisian Loft
• Plywood Walls Around the Home?
• How To: Make Plywood Counters
• Plywood: The Best Cheap Kitchen Countertop

As expected, HTC has dropped the details on a new Android phone—the leaked-to-all-hell Hero, no less. And HTC's fantastic, also-leaked Android interface overhaul is here, too: it’s called Sense, and it’s deep. Oh, and it’s got Flash support.

Yes, it's the first Android phone with Flash—and it'll come out more than two months before Adobe’s solution is set for wide release. Some specs: We’ve got a 3.2-inch HVGA (480×320) screen, coated with some kind of anti-print treatment; a five megapixel camera with autofocus; AGPS; a digital compass; a gravity sensor; a 3.5mm headphone jack (seriously!) and a dedicated search button. On the brains’n'guts front, we’ve got 512MB of storage, expandable by microSD, 288MB of RAM, and a 528MHz Qualcomm processor. Powering the handset is a 1350 mAh battery.

The Hero will be available later this summer in Europe in July and Asia later in the summer, but US availability won’t come until “later this year.”

[HTC]

HTC SENSE™ DEBUTS ON NEW HTC HERO™

HTC Hero is the world’s first Android-based phone with a
customized user interface

HTC Sense to be integrated across a portfolio of
phones beginning with HTC Hero

LONDON – June 24, 2009 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, today debuted HTC Sense™, an intuitive and seamless experience that will be introduced across a portfolio of phones beginning with the new HTC Hero™. With its distinct design and powerful capabilities fully integrated with HTC Sense, Hero introduces a unique blend of form and function that takes Android to new heights.
HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the centre by making your phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were designed by quietly listening and observing how people live and communicate.
“HTC Hero introduces a more natural way for reaching out to the people and accessing your important information, not by following the status quo of today’s phones, but by following how you communicate and live your life,” said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corporation. “HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, ‘it just makes sense.’”

HTC Hero
HTC Hero continues HTC’s leadership in cutting-edge design that focuses on introducing a variety of distinct devices to represent your own individuality. Boasting bevelled edges and an angled bottom, the HTC Hero is contoured to fit comfortably in your hand and against your face while you’re on a call. The HTC Hero is built to last beginning with an anti-fingerprint screen coating for improved smudge resistance and a longer lasting, clearer display. The white HTC Hero includes an industry-first, Teflon coating, resulting in an improved, durable white surface that is soft to the touch.
With its 3.2-inch HVGA display, the HTC Hero is optimized for Web, multimedia and other content while maintaining a small size and weight that fits comfortably in your hand. It also boasts a broad variety of hardware features including a GPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a 5 mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. HTC Hero also includes a dedicated Search button that goes beyond basic search, providing you with a more natural, contextual search experience that enables you to search through Twitter, locate people in your contact list, find emails in your inbox or search in any other area in Hero.

HTC Sense
Built on a culture of innovation and a passion to enhance people’s lives, HTC shapes the mobile experience around the individual. Debuting on the HTC Hero and available on all new HTC devices moving forward, Sense delivers on three basic principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.

Make It Mine
Make It Mine, is about feeling your HTC phone was created for and by you. To do this, HTC encourages you to dictate and organize how you want to access the people and content in your life in a way that fits best for you. For some, this means adding glance view widgets that push content like twitter feeds, weather and other content to the surface while others may want quick access to business-focused information like email, calendar and world-times. HTC is also introducing a new profile feature called ‘scenes’ that enables you to create different customized content profiles around specific functions or times in your life.

Stay Close
Today, staying in touch with the people in your life means managing a variety of communication channels and applications ranging from phone calls, emails, texts, photos, status updates and more. HTC Sense takes a different approach by integrating these communication channels and applications into one single view enabling you to stay closer to your important people. With HTC Sense, friends’ Facebook status updates and photos along with their Flickr photos are included along side their text messages, emails and call history in a single view.

Discover the Unexpected
Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. HTC Sense is focused on providing a variety of these simple yet innovative experiences on your HTC phone that will sometimes bring you moments of joy and delight. It can be something as basic as turning the phone over to silence a ring or as simple as improving the smart dialler for making calls quicker. HTC Sense also includes perspectives, a new way for viewing your content such as email, photos, Twitter, music and more in different ways.

Availability
The HTC Hero will be available to people across Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.