Thursday, April 29, 2010
by Aazar Shahzad
Certainly, if we're going to live in a future where console jockeys and other cyberpunk-types run amok in virtual reality dreamscapes, we're going to have to start seeing more cut-rate video eyewear. For most cowboys, dropping $800 on something by Vuzix is just not an option. Luckily, the gang at Chinavasion have recently sourced some generic, relatively inexpensive "Video Eyeglasses." Priced at $135 (with the cost dropping when you buy at bulk) these bad boys feature a simulated display size of forty inches and QVGA (320 x 240) resolution. But that ain't all! It even ships with its own generic media player, sporting 2GB storage and support for the usual file formats (including DivX, XviD, MPEG2, AVI, MP3, and FLAC) as well as ROMs for NES and Sega. Seems pretty straight forward, right? The only question we have left is: if viewed through Video Glasses, will The Girlfriend Experience have a plot? Because when we saw it on IFC, we're pretty sure it didn't. Get a closer look after the break.
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by Aazar Shahzad
Hardly the most exciting Palm news you're gonna hear this week, but the company that still owns itself for the time being has just updated its WebOS software on Verizon to the extremely granular version 1.4.1.1. The helpful changelog informs us there are no new apps, but pinch-zoom now works correctly in Doc and PDF views, a lag in the camera shutter sound has been rectified, and forwarding videos uploaded to YouTube on to your friends via email has also been made to work as it should. The most important fix of all, though, is to a keyboard input issue whereby a single key press would generate a letter twice -- both Pre Central and one of our readers report that this problem appears to have been consigned to the past. Good stuff, now let's see it go global
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by Aazar Shahzad
It's akin to clockwork, as they say -- Maingear, iBuyPowerand CyberPower have all decided to pump out new and / or revised gaming desktops based on AMD's latest and greatest (and cheapest, some would argue) six-core processor, barely waiting 24 hours to do the honors. The Phenom II X6 1090Tcertainly has the whole low-price thing going for it, enabling this trio of PC builders to offer up complete systems starting at under $1,000. Maingear's new Limited Edition Vybe packs a $999 price tag, USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps support, ATI's Radeon 5000 series graphics, a DVD burner, 640GB WD Caviar Black SATA 6G hard drive and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Over in CyperPower land, users can select a variety of 1090T-based rigs starting at just $699, while iBuyPower is revamping the Chimera 2-Q, Gamer Fire and Gamer HAF systems to include the new silicon and an all-too-tempting sub-$1k starting point. The whole lot is available to be customized right this moment, but we're in no position to help you choose between options A, B, C, D, E or F. And G is looking mighty promising, too.
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by Aazar Shahzad
US prepares to send NASA's humanoid Robonaut2 up to the International Space Station in September, Japan's private SOHLA (Space Oriented Higashiosaka Leading Association) is gearing up to send its own two-legged robot to the moon by 2015. The $10.5 million robot named "Maido-kun" is being developed in coordination with the Space Exploration Agency of Japan (JAXA), an organization that has been trying to send robots to the moon since at least 2006. Oh sure, there's little reason to send a wobbling two-legged robotic rover to the crater-pocked face of the moon when four-on-the-floor would be much more practical -- other than it's awesome.
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by Aazar Shahzad
We were promised a color-loving version of the diminutive Cybook Opus and here's the delivery of said pledge. Coming in seven new shades to match its May 7 release date, the newly revised Cybook Opus boasts instant-on functionality, a new Boo Reader software that helps to optimize battery life, and a category-best 12 font sizes. It's still a monochrome E Ink display -- 800 x 600 pixels -- and memory hasn't budged up from the 1GB on its predecessor, but at least the opening price has dipped down to a £149 ($226) RRP. When you consider 150 books come preloaded on the device, it's almost like Bookeenis giving the hardware away for free. It's not, but that's as good a rationalization as any other. Full PR after the break.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
by Aazar Shahzad
Rapidly escalating auto injury claim costs might be forcing auto insurers to more closely scrutinize and negotiate hospital bills prior to payment. According to a new study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC), the rising cost of claims can be attributed to low reimbursements from public health insurance programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
The IRC study, “Hospital Cost Shifting and Auto Injury Insurance Claims,” is based on data from more than 42,000 auto injury claims closed with payment under the five principal private passenger coverages. Twenty-two insurers, representing 58% of the private passenger auto insurance market in the Unites Sates in 2006, participated in the study. The IRC closed claim study collected detailed data on injury, medical treatment, claimed losses and total payments, claim handling techniques and attorney involvement.
IRC estimates that for bodily injury liability claims in 38 tort and add-on states, cost shifting in 2007 resulted in $1.2 billion in excess hospital charges. The full impact of hospital cost shifting, including that occurring in other insurance coverages and in other states, is likely much greater.
"The conventional wisdom is that hospitals aggressively seek to shift costs from public insurance programs to private payers such as auto insurance companies," said Elizabeth Sprinkel, SVP of the IRC. "With this study, we now have information on the magnitude of cost shifting, and a better understanding of the need for supportive state laws and effective tools that will enable auto insurers to pay hospitals appropriately and help control auto injury claim costs.”
Whether health care reform, if enacted, would alleviate or aggravate cost shifting to private insurance plans is currently unknown, according to the report. What is known, however, is that cost shifting is occurring now, and that it involves significant costs for the property/casualty insurance industry. Policymakers may consider options to address current and future cost shifting by hospitals. Findings in the IRC report suggest that doing so could help control the cost of hospital treatment for auto injury claimants as well as the administrative costs insurance companies incur to review medical bills from hospitals and physicians.
"Health care legislation enacted by Congress last month underscores the complexity of this relationship," Sprinkel says. "It will take months, if not years, to understand the full impact of the reforms on hospital cost shifting and the auto insurance system."
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by Aazar Shahzad
TAMPA, Fla., PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance Group® cooperated with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Florida Department of Financial Services, and National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) in an eight-month investigation involving staged vehicle crashes and insurance fraud in Hillsboro County.
"Operation Crash for Cash" resulted in arrest warrants for 22 people, and search warrants at two medical clinics in Hillsborough County. Thirty-two suspects have already been charged with staging crashes. Detectives began to round up suspects and serve the search warrants Friday, April 23. The suspects include clinic employees, massage therapists and participants in staged crashes. The criminal charges range from Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO), a first-degree felony, to staging vehicles crashes.
"Farmers applauds the efforts of the Hillsborough County Sheriffs office, the Florida Department of Financial Services and NICB for their ongoing efforts in the fight against insurance fraud," stated Doug Ashbridge, Director of Special Investigations for Farmers Insurance.
"Farmers is committed to fighting fraud, no matter where it occurs and no matter what form it takes. We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement on these and other matters around the country, working to deter anyone from attempting to defraud Farmers and its policyholders," Ashbridge continued.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with the NICB began "Operation Crash For Cash" in September 2009 after deputies noticed a pattern of questionable vehicle crashes.
"Undercover detectives developed confidential informants and learned which medical clinics they believed were being used in the alleged fraud. According to authorities, detectives were also able to identify the recruiters and coordinators they believe would solicit individuals to conduct staged crashes and then direct them to a particular medical clinic to allegedly sign blank medical forms. It is further alleged that at the clinics, crash participants would be coached on how to describe their injuries or pain to physicians," Ashbridge explained.
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010
by Aazar Shahzad
Good news, mobile gamers -- NVIDIA's looking out for you and yours, and if you're tired of lobbying to Congress about the inequities between driver releases for desktop GPUs and driver releases for mobile GPUs, you can finally move on to some other just cause. NVIDIA's Verde driver program has been a relative success over the years, but it's about to become a lot more gnarly when the company outs its 256 Series drivers in a few months. At that time, NVIDIA plans to "completely unify its GPU drivers, so mobile and desktop users will be able to get the latest releases simultaneously." Users won't find the desktop and laptop drivers in the same package, but we're sure each one will be clearly marked on the download page. It's worth noting, however, that these unified releases will only work with laptops featuring discrete GPUs, hybrid solutions utilizing NVIDIA-branded IGPs and Optimus-enabled machines; rigs with multi-vendor solutions (like the Alienware M11x, which uses an integrated set from Intel) won't be allowed to join the party.
In related news, the upcoming release of the 197.16 driver for laptops will bring along support for external displays with 3D Vision, enabling 3D Vision-ready laptops to pipe 3D content to 3D Vision-ready LCDs with ease. Good news all around, but you'll have to give those links below a visit if you're hungry for more.
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by Aazar Shahzad
RIM's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis just announced in an analyst call today that the company's next platform -- coined BlackBerry 6 -- will be available "in the next calendar quarter," which we take to mean the third quarter of 2010. We weren't able to see a video preview of the platform that was shown to analysts attending the event, but the demo apparently showed a touchscreen interface; a follow-up question from the audience confirmed that it'll be available for both touch and non-touch devices, though. Interestingly, Lazaridis said that the company's all-new WebKit-based browser is part and parcel with 6, pointing out that the rendering engine will have implications throughout the platform and the apps that run on it, not just on the browser alone; in other words, we wouldn't expect a release of a WebKit browser from these guys for OS 5.0-based devices. Speaking of OS 5.0, the intention is that every device in RIM's portfolio will eventually run 6, but not everything in the market today will necessarily be upgradeable -- Lazaridis says that they'll "do [their] best," but he's not making any guarantees. More on this as we get it.
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by Aazar Shahzad
"Eye of Dragon" must be Chinese for "better kit lens, fancier neck strap, a branded photo album, and a leather case." Because that's the totality of substantive changes you'll be getting if you opt for the upgraded Jackie Chan variety of Canon's Rebel T2i. Of course, there's also the knowledge that you'll be one of only 2,010 owners of this exclusive kit, which will set buyers back an unenviable 10,000 Yuan ($1,467). If you ask us, we'd rather just buy the body and add on the EF-S 18-135mm lens ourselves, but then we were always more partial to Bruce Lee anyway.
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
by Aazar Shahzad
What does the Vudu HDX version of Avatar have that the Blu-ray version doesn't? That's right, special features. Typically you don't get 'em with a digital download, but Vudu figured the release of Avatar is the perfect time to change that forever. We're not exactly sure what features will be available, but at free, they are priced just right. This is yet another sign that Hollywood is warming up to digital delivery -- the first sign was that digital download customers dont' have to wait another 28 days like Redbox and Netflix -- and Vudu also reminds us that if you want to stream Avatar in HD it is them or the Playstation as all the other streaming services will only offer the movie in SD -- we don't know about the Playstation service, but Vudu's HDX certainly qualifies as real HD. Another pictures of the Vudu interface after the jump.
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by Aazar Shahzad
The Archos 7 Home Tablet already went up for pre-order overseas last month, but it's now finally available to order over here as well courtesy of Amazon, with more retailers undoubtedly set to follow soon. While there's still no word on an exact release date (Archos has only said the "end of April"), the 7-inch tablet can now be ordered for $199.99, which is one of the more inexpensive ways to get a taste of Android without having to sign a contract. Still not sure what you might be getting into? Then be sure to check out our hands-on for a quick overview of the device.
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by Aazar Shahzad
As usual with OLED displays, we're taking one step forward only to find there are hundreds more to go. LG has today officially announced a new $226 million investment in its OLED production facilities, which will markedly expand its ability to churn out ultrathin canvases of wonder. The not so good news, however, is that this production line is still being built -- with a planned activation in the third quarter of 2010 -- and the effects of the new cash infusion will not be felt until the second half of next year. Should you have the patience to endure such protracted roadmaps, you should be seeing a lot more from LG in the mobile display space -- where Samsung currently holds the technological lead with its Super AMOLED screens -- as well as the luxury TV market that already counts the 15-inch 15EL9500 among its numbers. The Korean manufacturer describes OLED screens as one of its "new growth engines," alongside e-paper and solar cells, so even if we may consider development slow, it's looking increasingly likely that OLED TVs will eventually make their way into the mainstream.
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by Aazar Shahzad
NVIDIA's next generation Ion platform was announced back in early March, so naturally we've been wondering where all the souped-up netbooks based on the tech have been hiding. We wish we had better news, but it looks like the wait will have to go on a little while longer. While NVIDIA claims no delay on its end, ASUS and Acer have confirmed that their respective Ion 2 netbooks will not arrive until the end of May or even as late as the beginning of June in the US. The 12-inch ASUS 1201PN, which packs a dual-core Atom processor and a 16-core Ion chip, is set to hit Europe and Asia in mid to late May and will make its US debut in June. Similarly, Acer's 10-inch Aspire One 532G is planned to be released around Computex in early June. We just have a feeling there will be some more joining the Ion 2 netbook brigade in the interim, but it's looking like we'll just have to kick off the summer with another Ion showdown.
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by Aazar Shahzad
Compared to the other crazy handsets Dell leaked today, the Aero is definitely the runt of the litter. But with a leaked Q2 AT&T release date, the Aero will be first on our doorstep. What other juicy morsels have we gathered? On the hardware side, it's sadly a slow 624MHz Marvell processor that drives that3.5-inch capacitive multitouch screen, but hey, like the Chinese model, it's planned to ship with a capacitive stylus for handwriting recognition.
More interesting is software. Like Motorola's CLIQ, Aero comes with QuickOffice right out of the box, and supports Microsoft ActiveSync and Exchange to ostensibly keep in touch with your business. For the social crowd, there's on-device photo editing and "aggregated notifications" for the bevy of social networks Dell's agreed to support. While you probably knew the device would have a WebKit browser with Flash Lite, leaks reveal it will have a robust media player as well -- robust enough to have some sort of music streaming and download ability (PlayReady, anyone?) protected by Windows Media DRM. Though it's probably still Android 1.5 onboard, docs show Dell plans a "refresh" to Android 2.1 sometime between Q3 and Q4, but it's hard to say whether the Aero will get an OTA update, or whether only new Aeros will ship with Eclair. That said, given the relative insignificance of this handset compared to its new big brothers, we're more than willing to wait and find out.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
by Aazar Shahzad
Talk about being flexible. Sierra Wireless' newest 7.2Mbps-capable AirCard (the 890, if you're curious) obviously isn't content with fitting into just one slot. Rather than forcing users to choose between compatibility with PCMCIA (PC Card) or ExpressCard, this particular WWAN card actually fits into both... but not at the same time, naturally. It's the first DataConnect card on AT&T's network to boast a 2-in-1 form factor, and moreover, it touts integrated GPS functionality for use with location-based services. 'Course, you won't be using one of these with your shiny new 15-inch MacBook Pro (smart move on that SD-for-ExpressCard swap, Steve-o), but everyone else can procure one starting May 5th for $49.99 after mail-in rebate and a new two-year DataConnect contract of at least $35 a month.
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by Aazar Shahzad
We don't know what charlatanism is afoot here, but word is that Australian company Digital Works has come up with a way to recharge non-rechargeable batteries. We'd usually scoff at such blasphemy, but the tech has been convincing enough to at least get PC Treasures (who?) to distribute the ReZap Battery Engineer on the North American continent. This little do-it-all device will juice up rechargeable and standard batteries alike -- allowing up to 10 recharges for the latter type -- and is also capable of electrifying up to four cells of varying sizes at the same time. You can expect the ReZap to arrive in May with an SRP of $59.95, which we'd consider cheap if it does everything it promises, or extortionate in the somewhat more likely event that it doesn't. Full PR after the break.
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by Aazar Shahzad
Curious timing, no? Nary a fortnight after Olympusannounced an autofocus-related firmware update for its line of Micro Four Thirds cameras (the PEN E-P1, E-P2 and E-PL1), along comes Panasonic with an all-too-similar round of firmware fixes for their own MFT range. Slated to hit the interwebs on May 10th, a trio of new updates will purportedly bring improved autofocus performance with third-party lenses as well as recognition of the new 14-42mm kit zoom to the DMC-GF1, DMC-GH1 and DMC-G1. We're also told that there will be improved flash performance for the latter two, and if you just so happen to be the proud owner of one of these, you can head on past the break for the full changelog.
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by Aazar Shahzad
We've known that Garmin-Asus has been working on a phone with T-Mobile's 3G bands for a while, but now we finally know what it is: meet the Garminfone. Yes, just "Garminfone" -- you won't find an ounce of nuvifone branding here, despite the fact that the device is a dead ringer for the nuvifone A50 announced back at MWC, which leads us to believe that AT&T might hold the exclusive American rightsto market the name with its own G60. Whatever the case may be, you can expect a 3 megapixel autofocus cam, microSD expansion up to 32GB, WiFi, and full HSPA alongside Garmin's own flavor of Android (currently based on 1.6, we believe) that emphasizes its nuvi-esque navigation capabilities on a 3.5-inch HVGA display. As you might expect, it'll come bundled with a charging dash / windshield mount (notice those gold connectors on the side of the phone) when it launches "later this Spring." Follow the break for the full press release.
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by Aazar Shahzad
Down for a solid spate of updates? Wipe that sleep from your eye and listen up, then. HP's pushing out a list of updates tonight across a rather strange combination of desktops, so we won't waste any time breaking it down. The standouts of the bunch are the revamped TouchSmart PCs, with both theTouchSmart 300 and 600 getting a dose of Core i3 / i5, some sort of "Beats Audio" inclusion and a suite of software that you may or may not wish to keep loaded on. Starting tags on these are listed at $799 and $1,099, respectively. Moving on, there's the All-in-One 200-5020, a $699 (and up) machine with a 21.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, Windows 7, built-in WiFi, an optional keyboard / mouse, DVD burner, integrated webcam and MediaSmart software bundle. For the suits in attendance, there's the HP Compaq 6005 Pro Ultra Slim, which measures 10-inches high and 2.6-inches wide, includes ATI's Radeon 4200 GPU and sports a $599 starting point. The whole lot should be available by the month's end if you find something you like.
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by Aazar Shahzad
The Lumix G10 got pricing and a vague date yesterday, and now the first full review has finally graced the interwebs. Photography Blog put this $599, 12 megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera (and its 14 - 42mm kit lens) through a full suite of tests and came away generally impressed. The addition of 720p video recording makes this model an easy choice over the older G1, despite the subtraction of a few features and the tilting LCD. But, the upcoming $800 G2 offers all those features plus 720p video recording as well, making it perhaps a better choice for more serious shooters with deeper pockets. Still, the G10 looks to be a great option for those wanting affordable DSLR power and HD video recording in a (reasonably) svelte package.
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by Aazar Shahzad
Talk about random gifts from the ether. British Android device owners are waking up this morning to discover their robot-themed operating system has gone and upgraded itself overnight. We've confirmed for ourselves that Google Maps Navigation -- yes, the free turn-by-turn stuff with voice directions -- has made its fully functional way across the Atlantic. This is the 4.1.1 Beta released on April 6 to US customers, but as we say, it's now working over in Blighty as well. We've tested it out on a Desire and Nexus One from HTC, with the latter offering the extra-cool option to aurally instruct your Google search bar to "navigate to" your destination. Check out the gallery below for some visual edification.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
by Aazar Shahzad
We told you Lenovo's ThinkPad team was up to something, and two days earlier than its predicted Earth Day launch, the ThinkPad L Series has been released into the atmosphere. While it may look like theThinkPad R Series -- which it will eventually replace -- Lenovo says the 14-inch L412 and 15-inch L512 are the greenest ThinkPads ever made. Besides being 40 percent more power efficient than "other laptops," they're partially made from recycled office water jugs and miscellaneous used equipment. If all that green stuff doesn't stir your soul, the L Series has the standard ThinkPad chassis and can be specced up to be a pretty solid mainstream business system -- it'll be available with Core i3 or i5 CPU options along with integrated or ATI Radeon graphics. For those with a bit less cash to spare, an entry-level $649 model is equipped with a Celeron P4500 CPU, 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM. Pricing on the higher end models remain ambiguous, but these puppies should be available for pre-order on Lenovo's site soon enough, and then ship in what we expect to be very eco-friendly packaging early next month.
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