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We knew Orb was working on an iPhone port of its media-streaming app, and it looks like Orb 2.0 just stealthily went live in the App Store. The $10 app lets TV junkies watch live TV from a tuner connected to a Windows PC, as well as stream music, videos, and photos from their libraries. Even cooler, Orb allows you to monitor a webcam, so you can finally nail those Diet Coke thieves from the comfort of your cube (or keep an eye on your infant, whatever.) Sadly there’s no date for the Mac and Linux versions, but Orb says they’re on the way. Alright Sling, looks like the ball’s in your court.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Filed under: Cellphones

Orb 2.0 streams live TV to your iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

PC Pro’s given Intel’s dual-core, 1.6GHz Atom 330 (coupled with a 7200 RPM SATA hard drive and 1GB of DDR2 RAM) the benchmark run-through, and they’ve got some conflicting details to pass on to you. Overall, the testers found the Atom to be, as expected, faster than the N270, but only by 16 percent. In specific tests, the 330 ran Office 2003 slower than both a 2GHz VIA C7-D and the single-core Atom; PC Pro actually performed the test several times just to be sure it wasn’t a glitch… and it wasn’t. The 330 performed better running 2D graphics, outpacing the N270 by 41 percent, and it also outperformed its competitors in encoding and multitasking. Not enough details for you? Hit the read link for the full-on benchmarking experience.

Atom 330 is benchmarked, fares slightly worse than expected originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a morning of drip-fed images, RED just went official with its DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) System. The system starts with your choice of the professional Scarlet or “master professional” EPIC brains which can then be bunged into about 2,251,799,813,685,248 possible camera configurations, RED only half-jokingly chides. The brains are built upon Mysterium-X and Mysterium Monstro sensors which start at 2/3-inch and end at a whopping 6×17-cm — when a new sensor comes out you just upgrade the brain. Scarlet will launch in 4 choices ranging from $2,500 (and possibly less) to $12,000 with a variety of lens mounts (yes, Canon and Nikon) capable of shooting 3K @120fps on up to 6K @30fps. Epic will offer similar mounts with capabilities spanning 5K @100fps ($28k) to 9K @50fps ($45k) — a 28K system hitting 25fps is expected in 2010 for $55k. Still image resolutions will range from 4.9 megapixels to a freakish 261 megapixels. The first Scarlet systems could come as early as Spring of 2009 while EPIC should arrive by summer. Of course, the brain is just the beginning of the costs. RED also introduced a 3D camera today in true, “one more thing” fashion. See all the details in the gallery below, 3D camera after the break.

Continue reading RED’s Digital Still and Motion Camera System now official

RED’s Digital Still and Motion Camera System now official originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In September, the Government Accountability Office issued a 67-page report claiming U.S. companies are cutting corners on recycling efforts by shipping their e-waste to
foreign countries. Current made a documentary to illustrate the problem in China, where we can see workers in the country’s informal recycling sectors disassembling old gadgets on top of piles of e-waste. Pretty horrendous, isn’t it?

See also:

DTV Transition Will ‘Puke’ on Environment, Says Recycling Group
Report: U.S. E-Waste Ends Up in Asia for Recycling

Current via Valleywag

Google has fixed an a potentially devastating bug in its newly released Android operating system.

Some users of T-Mobile’s G1 phone found that typing any word on the phone’s keyboard — in any application — sent whatever they typed to the phone’s command line shell.

Those commands were then executed with root
user privileges, meaning there were no limitations on what the commands could do to the phone. For instance, texting the word ‘reboot’ would actually cause the phone to do so.

"We fixed the bug on Oct. 31 and are currently rolling out the fix to G1
devices," a Google spokesperson told Wired.com. Not all G1 phones may have been fixed though as T-Mobile is rolling out the patch in stages and there could be some phones still to be updated.

The bug affected almost all G1 phones and not just phones that had been "jailbroken" (hacked to work with unauthorized applications).

"This bug does
affect users of G1 running RC29 and earlier," says the Google spokesperson. "RC30 fixes this issue and it is not present in the emulator." RC29 and RC30 refer to updates to the Android firmware.

A test this morning at the Wired.com office did not show the
behavior on a G1 phone running the RC19 version of the firmware.

The latest update has been rolled out to all G1 phones but users have to click "update" directly on their device
for Google to consider the process complete, says the Google spokesperson. "We’re in the midst of that."

Despite the publicity around the latest Android flaw, it could not have caused much of a security problem, says Charlie Miller, a mobile-security specialist at Independent Security Evaluators

"It is such a basic problem that it is just embarrassing," says Miller. "It’s not really a security problem since you can’t do anything with the phone remotely." Miller discovered one of the earliest bugs in Android and says Google fixed that flaw within two weeks of being alerted.

Miller says Android developers were probably rushing to meet a deadline and didn’t test the code in detail, leading to the bug. "It was something they were using and may have forgotten to turn off," he says. "It’s just sloppy work."

Going forward, Google says it has created an online group to announce security updates and fixes. 

Photo: T-Mobile G1 (vveneziani/Flickr)

Filed under: Cellphones

For those who stick to one coast or the other, you may have never even heard of Centennial Communications. Not to worry, though, as AT&T just made said company entirely more relevant. Shortly before heading out of the office on Friday, AT&T decided it fitting to acquire Centennial for a few bucks shy of a billion, or $944 million for those seeking precision. The transaction will beef up AT&T’s coverage for customers in rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast United States, not to mention in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. As always, the acquisition must first pass regulatory approval, the approval of Centennial’s stockholders and “other customary closing conditions” before the little guy’s 1.1 million subscribers officially make the shift, but we certainly don’t expect that to be an issue.

[Via The New York Times, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

AT&T picks up Centennial Communications for $944 million originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

We’re digging this classic recording studio look, which is a throwback to Blue’s history with stylized Hi-Fi microphones. These guys started to build a bridge between their old stomping grounds and the new-to-them frontier of consumer electronics with the Snowball microphone and that Icicle USB XLR adapter we saw today, and now they’ve introduced the Eyeball ($99.99), a Super HD webcam that retracts its lens for privacy, and the Mikey iPod mic ($79.99) with a built-in speaker, three gain settings, and a positionable head. Mikey doesn’t play nice with the iPod Touch, but it works with all the other models 4G and up, as well as the 2 and 3G Nanos. Features on both are mostly the standard set, but Blue’s obviously putting an emphasis on audio quality, and we’ll give extra points for style.

Blue’s Eyeball webcam and Mikey iPod mic are made for digital crooners originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know those blaring horns and screeching tires outside your office window? Listen again; you’re actually hearing the soothing sounds of a babbling brook.

Silicon Valley start-up Adaptive Sound Technologies is out with its first product, Ecotones. It’s an adaptive noise-masking machine that blends with the audio in …

You know those blaring horns and screeching tires outside your office window? Listen again; you’re actually hearing the soothing sounds of a babbling brook.

Silicon Valley start-up Adaptive Sound Technologies is out with its first product, Ecotones. It’s an adaptive noise-masking machine that blends with the audio in …