TechRevu RSS feed http://www.techrevu.com Technology Reviews and News en-en http://www.techrevu.com/IMAGES/rss.jpg TechRevu RSS feed http://www.techrevu.com Attack of the Tweeners: Handicapping MIDs, Tablets, and Smartbooks http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4114 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4114 Mark Mark Spoonauer nails the taxonomy and probably adoption for "Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), Tablets (Media Tablets), and Smartbooks in his Laptop Mag piece. There's a place for media tablets, good name for them BTW, but they will no doubt cannibalize the adjoining segments a bit. I'm looking forward to more options in the 10.1 capacitive area, which is just about the same size as a trade paperback. I'm also looking forward to studies on how LED back-lighting works for eReading, since eInk has made so much of the eyestrain issue. And finally, while I'm all for touchscreens you can manipulate with your finger, I'm hoping that someone develops stylus technology that offers drag (the kind paper's tooth gives) and pressure sensitivity. Of course, I've been waiting for tablet to take over since Bill promised they would some years back, but their time may well have come. Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Spring Ahead With Retrevo http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4207 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4207 Looking over the list of electronic devices such as microwaves, cell phones, clock radios, coffee makers, cameras, VCRs, etc., we began checking off which ones will automatically reset themselves to Daylight Saving Time this Sunday, which ones are older devices with pre-2007 automated settings that will need to be reset by us, and which ones have no pre-sets at all, meaning they also will need to be reset by us. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 TV Industry Needs A Standard For 3D Glasses -- Now http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4202 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4202 We like the idea of 3D TV as much as any technophile, but early adopters of this new technology may pay the price if there is no standard for 3D glasses. After all, what's the point of buying one of the new Panasonic models if you can't go over to your best friend's place and then not be able to watch the World Series or Super Bowl on his Samsung or Sony 3D TV simply because they use a different standard. If 3D glasses cost an average of $100, how many models are you going to have to purchase. We have one request for the manufacturers -- please play nice. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Warp Speed Will Kill You http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4203 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4203 One of the catch phrases made famous by Star Trek was Dr. Leonard McCoy telling Captain James T. Kirk "He's dead Jim". The reality is that if Kirk told Scotty to go to Warp Speed, they'd all be as dead as if they were inside the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Lab Creations: A Plastic That Acts Like A Metal http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4197 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4197 Led by Gang Chen, director of MIT's Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering Laboratories, researchers have successfully made polyethylene, a common polymer conduct heat as if it were a metal. What makes things different is that unlike metals, the heat is conducted in only one direction and has potential uses such as dissipating heat from computer chips. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 LHC To Shut Down For A Year To Address Design Faults http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4198 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4198 The problem with being cutting edge is that when things go wrong, diagnosing and correcting the problem can be very challenging. Such is the case with the problems causing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to shut down for repairs at the end of 2011. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Catalyst Could Power Homes On A Bottle Of Water, Produce Hydrogen On-Site http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4199 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4199 In a process that works much like photosynthesis, MIT chemist Dan Nocera, the researcher who founded Sun Catalytix, has developed a cobalt-based catalyst that allows him to store energy the same way plants do: by splitting water. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Exotic Antimatter Created On Earth http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4200 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4200 In the never ending search for a way to recreate the Big Bang, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. have used the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to create a never-before seen type of exotic matter thought to have been present at that time. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 New Rocket Engine Could Reach Mars in 40 Days http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4201 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4201 It looks as if the giants of the Golden Age of Science Fiction were right when they said that electric propulsion would be needed for serious exploration of Mars. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Bluetooth 4.0 To Reach Devices In Fourth Quarter http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4193 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4193 Just before Christmas 2009, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced the new low energy Bluetooth 4.0 wireless specification. Now comes the announcement that we can expect to see the first Bluetooth 4.0 products by the fourth quarter of 2010. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 'Highly Critical' Flaw Found In Opera Browser http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4194 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4194

While Opera advertises Version 10.50 (the latest one) as being the fastest browser available, apparently its speed offers little in the way of protection against an unpatched remote code execution flaw, one rated as "highly critical" by Secunia.

[Editor's Note: According to the PC World article, "Opera Software will soon patch a vulnerability in its Web browser that could allow an attacker to run malicious software on a Windows computer."]

 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Polymer To Replace Cotton In Canadian Currency Notes http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4195 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4195 Following the lead of Australia who has already been replacing their torn and worn out paper dollar bills with longer lasting polymer based ones, the Bank of Canada plans on introducing their own new polymer banknotes, probably beginning sometime in 2011. In addition, the new bills will be much harder to counterfeit and we suspect that the US Treasury Department has been exploring their own similar options. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 Hard Drive Evolution Could Hit Microsoft XP Users http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4196 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4196 With the next generation advanced format hard drives due out early next year, it appears that anyone using Windows XP Pro and Windows XP Home on their PCs and laptops will have trouble if their existing hard drives need to be replaced. It looks like a good time to explore other options such as buying a compatible spare hard drive for anywhere from $50 to $100, or move up to a new machine running Windows 7. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 DNA Test 'Could Predict Most Effective Diet' http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4188 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4188 Who would have thought that the key to the perfect diet for a specific individual may be determined by their DNA. Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700 LUMIX DMC-G2, World's First Interchangable Lens System Camera With Touch-Control Movable LCD http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4189 http://www.techrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=4189 With touchscreens being the most desired feature for many people these days, is it surprising that Panasonic is the first company to offer world's first digital interchangeable lens system camera with a movable LCD touchscreen? We can't wait to get our hands on the LUMIX DMC-G2 when it hits the stores. Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700