Qualcomm is said to be putting more muscle behind its planned Mirasol color e-reader technology.
According to Taiwan's Digitimes, the company is ready to spend up to $2 billion on a Taiwan plant to produce the screens, which use tiny microelectronic machines to produce an e-reader screen that not only can display color, but video as well.
Qualcomm, which has been showing Mirasol for some time, won't produce the actual e-reader devices, hoping instead to license its technology broadly. A representative told CNET in June that e-readers using Mirasol should be out early next year, if not by … Read more
It's sort of a hybrid between pen and pencil (and I'm a fan of things that cross boundaries once thought to be immutable.) That said, it can be kind of hard to wrap one's head around Sharpie's new creation, at least until you pick one up.
Although it looks like and writes like a pen, it uses liquid graphite and erases much like a pencil.
On the plus side, it writes smoothly, doesn't break or need new lead and it is even less smudge-producing than a standard pencil and far less smear-prone than any pen.
Its erasability varies based on a bunch of factors from the type of paper to how hard you press. In general though, it erases quite well soon after writing, which tends to be the only time I would want to erase anything anyway. It's supposed to get more permanent after the first 24 hours, but will remain somewhat erasable long after that.
Engadget has soured on the liquid pencil over the fact it doesn't become truly permanent. Sharpie responded that it might have overstated things when it said in a blog post that writing from the Liquid Pencil becomes permanent like a Sharpie.
Indeed, if you are signing a contract, writing a will or what have you, I'd definitely grab a pen. But, for those who want a pencil that won't accidentally disappear over time, I think you are probably safe with the Liquid Pencil. … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO--After about a month of using a Windows Phone 7 device with no extra apps at all, it was fun to get my hands on some games.
On Tuesday I had a chance to play with a handful of the titles that Microsoft just announced would be coming to Windows Phone 7 when it launches later this year.
Though just a small sample, the quick look showed that Windows Phone 7 is quite a capable platform for games. That's important, because games in general--and the phone's Xbox Live tie-in specifically--will have to be a key selling point … Read more
I was already planning to spring for an Xbox 360 and Kinect add-on, when it comes out this holiday season. I've even been trying to figure out which messy room in my house is best suited to give me the space I need to move around.
I've been wanting something like Kinect since I played with an early precursor a few years ago and used GestureTek's setup early last year. I love sports and games, but am not much for having to map natural actions to a couple buttons on a controller. Traditional console gaming held little … Read more
Microsoft said Wednesday the next version of Office for Mac will get two key features that were part of the latest Windows version: photo editing and mini charts in Excel, known as Sparklines.
In a video posted on its Office for Mac Web site, the company showed how the two features will work. Sparklines are tiny charts that fit in a single cell and allow one to see the trend in individual data points.
As for the photo editing, Microsoft said Office for Mac will allow such things as color correction or background removal from within the new versions of … Read more
One of the casualties of last year's layoffs at Microsoft was the Aces game studio responsible for the company's long-running Flight Simulator game.
At the time, Microsoft promised that the flight simulation franchise would continue in one form or another. This week, Redmond confirmed that it is indeed following through with a new title: Microsoft Flight.
The game is in its early development stages, with an alpha version nearly ready for internal testing, according to Kevin Unangst, a senior director in Microsoft's game unit.
The company is offering few details on Flight, but Unangst said that it … Read more
As of Tuesday, Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger users will now be able to send instant messages to Facebook friends who are logged into the social-networking service.
Microsoft is the first of the major instant-messaging services to connect directly to Facebook Chat. It's part of an effort by the folks in Redmond to evolve Messenger from purely an instant-messaging program to a social hub with activity feeds, video chat, and other connection options.
The addition of the Facebook Chat connection comes as part of an update to the test versions of the next generation of Windows Live programs. Not … Read more
While the upcoming "The Social Network" movie will offer one view of Facebook, another big-screen release may do a better job of showing both the power and pitfalls of the social network.
Catfish, which played at Sundance earlier this year and debuts in several cities next month, is a documentary that tells the tale of Nev Schulman, a New York City photographer who develops a close online relationship with three members of a rural Michigan family. It begins when the young daughter of the family, Abby, starts painting adaptations of some of the photographer's work. Nev, the … Read more
Microsoft announced late Monday the first wave of Xbox Live games that will be made available for Windows Phone 7 when the first smartphones running the new operating system hit the market later this year.
Although games are just one part of Microsoft's app strategy when it comes to Windows Phone, Redmond is counting on games--and Xbox Live tie-in in particular, to be a key selling point for Windows Phone. The Windows Phone 7 devices will be the first products outside of a PC or the Xbox itself to connect to Xbox Live. Gamers will be able to see … Read more
Microsoft on Monday released an updated test version of its next home server product, code-named Vail. Notably, the server software can now manage and backup Macs, in addition to Windows PCs.
Aurora, which is apparently also getting Mac support, is designed to allow businesses to handle some tasks, such as print server functions on a local server while also tapping into Microsoft's hosted Web services for other tasks, such as e-mail. Microsoft detailed its plans … Read more
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