UK 4G spectrum set to be auctioned off next year

UK 4G spectrum set to be auctioned off next year: "

Ofcom, the UK version of the FCC, is currently sitting on two fat bands of prime 4G spectrum, at 800MHz and 2.6GHz, but it won't be doing so for long. This morning has seen an announcement from the independent regulator that it's looking to sell off those airwaves to the highest bidder, as early as 2012, pending the conclusion of a consultation on how to ensure the auction helps promote, rather than stifle, competiton. The 800MHz band comes directly from spectrum freed up by the country's transition to digital television, and together with the 2.6GHz is equivalent to three quarters of all the mobile spectrum the UK uses today. The usual suspects of O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere will be vying for prime position in the next wave of superspeedy internet ... we just wonder how 3G-centric network Three will react to the news.



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Continue reading UK 4G spectrum set to be auctioned off next year

UK 4G spectrum set to be auctioned off next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray set officially announced, arrives June 28th

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray set officially announced, arrives June 28th: "

Warner has finally released the details on its upcoming 15-disc (six on Blu-ray, plus nine DVDs) Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition Blu-ray package, setting a release date of June 28th. If the extra few hours of footage isn't enough for you to preorder the $120 MSRP / $84 Amazon set, there's more than 26 hours of special features included although most of them are restricted to the DVDs. Each movie is spread across two Blu-ray discs and has a 6.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack, while Fellowship of the Ring has been treated to a remastering from the original 2K digital files. It's a little disappointing there aren't more HD extras mentioned but each Blu-ray is BD-Live enabled, we wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of teaser hit before The Hobbit arrives in theaters.

Continue reading The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray set officially announced, arrives June 28th

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray set officially announced, arrives June 28th originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cube made of 512 LEDs does 3D with calculus, not glasses (video)

Cube made of 512 LEDs does 3D with calculus, not glasses (video): "

No goofy active shutter glasses, no headache-inducing parallax barrier screens, no optical trickery here. This is a pure 3D display -- unfortunately done at a resolution of just 8 x 8 x 8. It's a hand-built LED cube created by Nick Schulze, powered by Arduino, and driven largely by Matlab. Yes, Matlab, an application you probably deleted less than three minutes after signing off on your calculus final. We can't help you find that installation disc again, but we can encourage you to enjoy the video of this 3D matrix of blinkenlights after the break, and you can get the full details on how to build your own at the other end of that source link.

Continue reading Cube made of 512 LEDs does 3D with calculus, not glasses (video)

Cube made of 512 LEDs does 3D with calculus, not glasses (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Crunchgear | Howtonotengineer.com | Email this | Comments"

Apple releases OS X 10.6.7 with fix for MacBook Pro display issues

Apple releases OS X 10.6.7 with fix for MacBook Pro display issues: "

It may be a minor update for most, but those with a brand new MacBook Pro will no doubt find the just-released OS X 10.6.7 upgrade particularly welcome. In addition to various minor improvements for all Macs, it includes a fix for early 2011 MacBook Pros that promises to 'improve graphics stability and external display compatibility.' That sounds like it may actually fix both the freezing issue we reported on earlier today and the flickering issue that's been plaguing Thunderbolt-equipped MacBook Pros since day one, though we've yet to confirm either ourselves. Let us know how things work out for you in comments.



Update: Early indications are that it does indeed fix both the freezing and flickering issues. We'll let you know if we find anything else.



[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple releases OS X 10.6.7 with fix for MacBook Pro display issues originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo 3DS review

Nintendo 3DS review: "

See that greenish blue thing up there? That might look like this greenish blue thing over here that we reviewed a few weeks back, but actually they're not the same. No, sir. This thing up there is the genuine, guaranteed, red-blooded American version, ready to tear a $250 hole in your gaming budget and make you go all googly-eyed for 3D. Naturally there isn't an awful lot different here compared to the Japanese version we already looked at, but we have had the opportunity to spend a good bit more quality time with this one than with the other one. Plus, being able to read all the manuals doesn't hurt.



What you'll find below is a full review of the American console including more game impressions, more in depth battery life tests, a dazzling demo of the thing's augmented reality gameplay, and some surpring performance results with good 'ol DS carts. So, join us, if you would, for a rather more in depth exploration of this, the next dimension in handheld console gaming.

Gallery: Nintendo 3DS

Continue reading Nintendo 3DS review

Nintendo 3DS review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New MacBook Pros freezing under heavy load?

New MacBook Pros freezing under heavy load?: "

Apple may have dodged the big Sandy Bridge problem with its new MacBook Pros, but it looks like it may now be experiencing some growing pains of an another sort. As evidenced by a 44-page and growing thread on Apple's official support forums, a number of users have been seeing their 15-inch and 17-inch MacBooks freeze up when they're under a heavy load -- encoding a large video file, for instance. That problem seems to be related to the laptops' new AMD graphics, as switching them to integrated-only seems to 'fix' the problem for most users, although obviously at some considerably expense to performance. While Apple isn't offering much publicly at the moment, a user that spoke with customer service said that Apple seemed to be aware of the issue, and that they suggested it was a firmware or driver-related problem, and not an actual hardware issue. Unfortunately, there's still no indication as to when it might be fixed. Let us know in comments if you've run into some similar issues.



[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

New MacBook Pros freezing under heavy load? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Apple Support, MBP-Freeze | Email this | Comments"

Game developers want DirectX to 'go away,' says AMD man

Game developers want DirectX to 'go away,' says AMD man: "

Like a pesky video game villain that just won't go away, Microsoft's DirectX has been a mainstay of mainstream PC gaming pretty much since the inception. Its existence hasn't been without its tensions, however, with notable graphics guru John Carmack of id Software ignoring it in favor of OpenGL -- until last week when he finally acknowledged that Direct3D had outgrown its cross-platform alternative and was now the preferable API for PC game development. That's all well and good, but plenty of game devs, says Richard Huddy, head of AMD's developer relations team, don't want any API at all. Huddy points out the sadly obvious fact that modern graphics cards can pretty much stomp any console hardware into the dirt in a straight fight and yet fail to show the full extent of their superiority in actual game visuals. He'd prefer to see developers given direct low-level access to the hardware, so they can maximize their own talents and really push things forward. Of course, the beauty of DirectX is that it's a standard that every Windows game designer can code to, leading to predictable and more widely compatible (if not necessarily spectacular) results. For more on how the future's shaping up, hit the links below.

Game developers want DirectX to 'go away,' says AMD man originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Bit-tech | Email this | Comments"

Gates, Bosch, and NuVinci combine to make pedal-assist e-bike concept, not Voltron

Gates, Bosch, and NuVinci combine to make pedal-assist e-bike concept, not Voltron: "

There's those who want electric bikes that'll hurtle you down the road at 40mph at the twist of the throttle, and there's those who believe pedaling to be enjoyable enough, but would like a less strenuous bicycling experience. If you find yourself a member of column B, listen up, because Gates, NuVinci, and Bosch have created an e-bike concept that'll satisfy your two-wheeled transportation needs. Gates supplied its Carbon electric belt drive, NuVinci brought its N360 infinitely variable planetary hub, and Bosch threw in a battery and control system to make a bicycle beauty. The power train is set up to give riders pedal-assist with four settings that go from Lance to lazy, depending on your mood. At an estimated cost of €2,600 - €3,200 ($3,680 - $4,530), you'll need a bank account comparable to the seven-time champion of Le Tour should an OEM pick up the design.

Gates, Bosch, and NuVinci combine to make pedal-assist e-bike concept, not Voltron originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wired | Gates | Email this | Comments"

Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider

Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider: "Hard to say if Doc Brown would give this his coveted seal of approval, but our gullible minds have already been made up: time travel is not only possible, but it's well within reach. A gaggle of scientists have apparently figured out a theory that could use the Large Hadron Collider to move a Higgs singlet back and forth through time. The 'catch' is that they have yet to prove the existence of said singlet, but the upside is that nothing in theory violates any laws of physics or experimental constraints. In other words, this wouldn't enable a human to move back and forth along the universal timetable à la Fringe, but it could allow for messages to be sent forward and back. About 14 other improbable things have to happen before this could even be tested, but if you're even remotely interested in the concept (c'mon, you are), you owe it to yourself to give those source links a peek.

Theorists get us closer to believing time travel is possible via the Large Hadron Collider originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | arXiv, MSNBC | Email this | Comments"

Turn a Pair of $30 Headphones into a $300 Pair [DIY]

Turn a Pair of $30 Headphones into a $300 Pair [DIY]: "

If you want high-quality music but don't feel like shelling out hundreds of dollars for a decent pair of headphones, blogger Stacy D shows us how to turn a cheap pair of knock-offs into a legit set of audiophile headphones. More »

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How to Ditch Slow Wireless Speeds and Go Completely Wired in Your Home (and Why You Should) [Video]

How to Ditch Slow Wireless Speeds and Go Completely Wired in Your Home (and Why You Should) [Video]: "

Wi-Fi provides a convenient way to connect the computers in your home without dealing with the hassle of wires, but Wi-Fi is also slow and unreliable compared to a wired connection. Wireless may be the way of the future, but here are some of the best ways to go wired where it counts. More »

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RetinaPad Improves the Quality of Screen-Doubled iPhone Apps on Your Jailbroken iPad [Ipad]

RetinaPad Improves the Quality of Screen-Doubled iPhone Apps on Your Jailbroken iPad [Ipad]: "

Despite the iPad being nearly a year old, many iPhone apps still don't have iPad counterparts. While the iPad will run them at double the size, the apps look pretty pixelated. RetinaPad is a jailbreak extension for iPad that lets any screen-doubled graphics use the retina version, significantly improving the resolution of most any small screen app. More »

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