As reported on TechCrunch. by CHRIS VELAZCO The cellphones were stacked up high in the Gumi factory yard and more were coming out every minute. Phones, TVs, fax machines, and other gear shattered as it hit the concrete and Samsung CEO Kun-hee Lee and his board cracked the screens and cases with heavy hammers. Then they lit a bonfire and threw everything in. The 2,000 workers began to cry. And still the hardware kept coming. The…
As reported on Engadget. By Jamie Rigg In addition to the Galaxy Tab 3 with a 7-inch display we’ve known about for a while, Samsung’s announced the slate will come in 8- and 10.1-inch varieties, too — something rumors and FCC filings have long suggested. The 8-inch model has a TFT display sporting a 1,280 x 800 (WXGA) resolution (189 ppi), a 5-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter. It’s got vaguely respectable internals: a 1.5GHz dual-core processor (no word on the manufacturer),…
As reported on Engadget. By Dana Wollman Just a short while ago we brought word that Dell had quietly announced the Dell XPS 11, an 11.6-inch Ultrabook with a hinge that folds all the way back into tablet mode, with the keyboard disabled after it passes 180 degrees. Yep, it is what it sounds like: a direct strike at Lenovo’s Yoga convertibles. As we said in our earlier report, it won’t actually be available until the holiday season,…
As reported on The Verge. By Amar Toor With the World Cup just 12 months away, Brazil is scrambling to put its best foot forward On March 22nd, police in Rio de Janeiro clashed with demonstrators outside the city’s Maracanã football stadium, where members of various indigenous groups had been squatting in protest. Earlier, the protesters had received eviction notices from the government, which planned to build a new parking lot where their homes then stood. Less than…
As reported on TechCrunch. by JOHN BIGGS Kyle and Liz von Hasseln aren’t your typical designers. Initially focused on architecture, the pair stumbled upon an interesting business idea when they wanted to make a special cake for a friend’s birthday: the Sugar Lab. “It was our friend Chelsea’s birthday, and we didn’t have an oven to bake her a cake, so we decided to try to 3D print a cake for her, instead. It took some trial…
As reported on The Verge. By Laura June I thought I wanted something ‘iPhone-sized,’ but I was wrong Late on the night of September 9th, 2012, I was sitting at my kitchen table, going over notes for a piece I was writing about video game arcades. The next morning at 6AM I was bound for an Amtrak train which would take me to Pennsylvania, then to Baltimore, on a four-day trip of interviews for the piece. I…
As reported on TechCrunch. by FREDERIC LARDINOIS Microsoft’s SharePoint always featured a core set of social tools, but with the acquisition of Yammer, as well as the ongoing integration ofLync and Skype, the folks over in Redmond are clearly ready to push social as the next major cornerstone of their enterprise offerings. Today, Microsoft is launching a new campaign to help companies understand how social canhelp them become more productive. In connection to this, the company also commissioned a new study that tried…
As reported on Engadget. By Jamie Rigg Given the success of the original Galaxy Note and its sequel, there’s little doubt a third installment of the super-sized handset line is on Samsung’s to-launch list. Korean site ETNews claims to have heard the first legitimate confirmation of the Note III’s existence, however, citing a Samsung official as its source. The insider apparently had much to say on plans for the camera, too. It’s expected to be a 13-megapixel affair and could see other upgrades…
As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas It’s comparatively easy to run fiber optic lines at high speeds; it’s another matter to sustain that pace between continents. Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs has found a way to go that extreme distance by relying on the basic concept behind noise-cancelling headphones. When the researchers send data across two light beams in opposing phases, they can superimpose the signals and neutralize the distortion that would normally occur at long ranges. Such clean output lets…
As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas Google Ventures has a reputation for backing tech winners early on — it gave a boost to this little startup called Nest, for example. It wants to exert influence every step of the way, however, and it’s launching Google Capital to make this happen. The new fund is investing in firms that aren’t quite so young, but are doing “amazing things” aligned with Google’s interests, according to general partner Mike Pearson.…