Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Motorola To Cut More Jobs, Shift Focus to Android Phones

11:33PM John Mahoney | Motorola’s got plenty of problems. A really big one being that their development focus is spread across as many as six mobile phone platforms. To help streamline (err, slash up) things, Sanjay Jha, the new head of mobile phone operations, plans to do what many have been suggesting and suspecting: reduce that number to three, while shifting tons of resources to Android. More »

$US99 Live Pack Upgrades Xbox 360 Arcade to Pro

11:30PM Mark Wilson | There’s just $US100 standing between the $US199 hard driveless Xbox 360 Arcade and the more functional $US299 Xbox 360 Pro. And now you can find that $US100 in this Xbox 360 Live Pack which features all the vital stuff missing from the 360 Arcade, like the 60GB hard drive and (fist pump) and an ethernet cord. But there’s one blatant thing still missing from the kit—component cables. (Luckily all 360s now come with a non-proprietary HDMI port.) The Xbox 360 Live Pack arrives in stores this November for $US99. [Kotaku] More »

Scientists Claiming Planet Vulcan May Exist Don’t Have Pointy Ears

10:54PM Jesus Diaz | Using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Dr Massimo Marengo–from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics–and Dr Dana Backman–from the SETI Institute–are claiming that there’s a solar system which is a younger twin of our own, just 10.5 light-years from us. Nothing surprising, really, until they tell you that the star is called Epsilon Eridani. Which just happens to be, hold your tinfoil hats on, the legendary home star of a certain Mr. Spock. According to Marengo, they have a pretty good idea of how it looks like: More »

Netflix HD Streaming Debuts on Xbox 360

10:15PM Mark Wilson | The New Xbox Experience—which we just gave a stellar review—will not only stream Netflix movies. It will be streaming Netflix movies in HD. Whaaa? Nobody else does that! More »

The Eeephone Cometh: Asus To Launch Android Phone in ‘09

9:54PM Kit Eaton | We already know Hop-on and Motorola are planning Android-based mobile phones, but now there’re a few hints that Asus is interested in joining the game. Some unnamed company sources are reportedly saying it’ll hit the streets during the first half of 2009—which is about the same timing as Motorola’s promised version—though it appears it may be out in the Taiwanese stores first before being modified for overseas carriers. Let’s hope they don’t call it the Eeephone, eh? [Digitimes via Reghardware] More »

Asus Defiantly Cramming Discrete Graphics Hardware into EeePCs

9:17PM John Herrman | Perfectly content to dance around, blur, move or even erase the line that separates notebooks from netbooks, Asus — the company that practically invented the market — is planning on including discrete graphics hardware in some of its EeePC models. Why would you want to make an already-expensive piece of “budget” hardware defy its original intended role even further? If you’re Asus, the answer is a nonsensical and apparently rhetorical “Why not?” The gaming-enhanced EeePCs are expected to start showing up before the end of the year. [Reg Hardware] More »

Darpa Wants Bigger, Smarter BigDog ‘Bot To Help in Combat

9:11PM Kit Eaton | Boston Dynamic’s BigDog is already an impressive and freakishly animal-like beast, but Darpa it seems has bigger plans in mind and is asking for a smarter, bigger BigDog. The upgraded robot needs to carry 180kg of payload, run 32km on any terrain and survive un-refueled for a whole day to please Darpa’s request. Plus it must be way quieter so it’s more useful in real combat situations and have a smarter brain so it can steer itself autonomously as it trots after its soldier masters.

Mars Phoenix Losing an Arm, Going On Life Support

9:10PM John Herrman | We knew this day would come, but who knew it would be so soon? The Mars Phoenix, as planned, is shutting down major systems to offset its diminished solar power collection during the Martian winter. The little robot, which – nay, who — has been making monumental discoveries on the Red Planet for nearly six months is not expected to wake up come Spring. The first significant casualty will be the heater for the Phoenix’s robotic arm, which was instrumental in scraping up evidence of water, among other things. More »

Now Even Thirsty Houseplants Demand Attention With DIY Twitter Kit

8:33PM Kit Eaton | Back in February we showed you a slightly botched-together system that lets your houseplants Twitter, but now there’s a complete kit available. After soldering it together, you simply shove it deep into your plant’s pot, connect it up to with an ethernet cable, and when its moisture sensors detect that you’ve been a bit lax in watering it’ll Twitter with a “water me please” prompt. Ignoring it won’t work as it’ll step up the game with an urgent Tweet, and over-watering’ll earn you a scolding. It’s possibly the only way I’d remember to feed Reg, my sadly dessicated lemon tree…though at this rate of digitizing the average home is at risk of networking overload. Out now for $US99. [ via OhGizmo] More »